How firms are embracing artificial intelligence-powered chatbots

New Delhi: Changing customer expectations, falling customer satisfaction, and the promise of lower operating costs are among the major reasons why companies are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots for use as virtual agents or assistants. The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector is clearly taking the lead in India. Consider the case of HDFC Bank Ltd, which said this September that its Facebook Messenger chatbot OnChat had registered a 160% month-on-month growth in transactions. HDFC Bank also has an AI chatbot called'Eva', built for it by Bengaluru-based Senseforth AI Research, which has "successfully addressed over 2.7 million customer queries in the six months since its inception". OnChat, which received over 2.4 million messages, "witnessed nearly 25% usage by non-HDFC Bank users as well, who used the bot to transact and use services", Nitin Chugh, country head-digital banking, HDFC Bank, said.