At T-Mobile, AI plays supporting role for customer service reps

Artificial intelligence (AI) as intermediary is among the most popular tools in customer support, with businesses frequently dispatching software bots instead of humans to serve customers. You've likely experienced this trend firsthand when you've called a customer service number and an interactive voice response (IVR) system routed you to the right information funnel (if you're lucky). Or maybe you've navigated a website and a bot with a human name asked, via a blinking chat window, how they can help you. Get the latest insights with our CIO Daily newsletter. T-Mobile is taking a different tack, using AI to augment the customer experience rather than intercept the caller on the way to the human helper, according to CIO Cody Sanford, who has spent the past few years transforming the telco company's operations.