• Login
  • Status
  • Support
  • Partners
  • Pricing
  • Careers
  • EN
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Français
    • 日本
    • 简体中文
    • العربية
    • 한국
    • Español
NICE - AI Customer Service Automation Solutions
  • NICE - AI Customer Service Automation Solutions×
  • Platform

    CXone Mpower Platform

    • Workflows

      Automate every service workflow

    • Agents

      Maximize agent performance

    • Knowledge

      Centralize data and knowledge

    Customer Service Automation

    • Platform Overview

      Complete AI Platform for service automation

    • Integrations & Hubs

      Seamlessly connect your business systems

    • Trust and Compliance

      Ensure secure, reliable, and compliant operations

    • Developer Portal

      Access APIs, SDKs, and resources for building

    • CXexchange Marketplace

      Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities

    • User Communities

      Collaborate, learn, and share best practices

  • Products

    Complete CX Offerings

    • AI for Customer Experience

      Purpose-built AI for unparalleled CX automation

    • Digital and Self Service

      Friction-free customer experiences driven by conversational AI

    • Workforce Engagement Management

      Robust applications to optimize the employee experience (WEM)

    • Journey Orchestration and Routing

      Seamless customer journeys across voice & digital channels

    • Agent Assist

      AI-driven tools for real-time agent guidance and coaching

    • CX Analytics

      Actionable insights to continuously enhance the customer experience

    • Open Cloud Platform

      Innovative cloud-native foundation to rapidly scale extraordinary CX

    • All CX Offerings

  • Solutions

    By Industry

    • BPO

      Business Process Outsourcers

    • Financial Services

      Customer experiences that count

    • Government

      Elevate citizen trust

    • Healthcare

      Healthy patient experiences

    • Insurance

      Secure policyholder experiences

    • Retail

      Delight customers where they shop

    • Telecom

      CX for Telecommunications

    • Travel and Hospitality

      Strengthen traveler and guest loyalty

    By Business Initiative

    • Transform Experiences with AI

      Identify behaviors that drive frictionless customer experiences.

    • Boost Customer Loyalty

      Improve customer loyalty on every interaction across the journey

    • Call Center Software

      Empower your agents to provide better experiences—on every channel.

    • Drive Digital Transformation

      Integrate digital technology at the center of the customer experience

    • Move to the Cloud

      Elevate experiences and efficiencies by moving operations to the cloud

    • Unify CX Touchpoints with AI

      Unlock total awareness for your business with purpose-built AI on a unified platform

    • Increase Operational Efficiency

      Leverage AI and automation to increase agent retention and reduce costs

    • Improve Compliance

      Protect your consumers with pre-built compliance solutions

    • Engage and Empower Employees

      Create a workplace of truly engaged employees

    • Proactive Customer Engagement

      Elevate customer satisfaction with proactive conversational AI

    • Grow Revenues

      Boost conversions and win rates to accelerate financial success

  • Services

    Contact Center Services

    • Business Consulting

      Partnership for successful transformations

    • Contact Center Training

      Tailored education delivered by CX experts

    • Customer Support

      Global support you can depend on

    • Professional Services

      Relevant expertise, tools and know-how

    • Implementation Partners

      NICE CXone certified implementation partners

  • Resources

    Resources

    • Resource Library

      Whitepapers, datasheets, demos and more

    • Self-Led Training

      Professionally developed training courses

    • Blog

      CX industry guidance by contact center experts

    • Analyst Perspective

      Contact center reports from third party analysis

    • Events

      Upcoming events and webinars

    • Glossary of Terms

      Detailed descriptions of industry-related terms

    • Frequently Asked Questions

      Contact center focused FAQ

    • Customer Stories

      Driving success in every customer story

    • CX & Contact Center Guides

      Expert insights for superior CX

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Browse our extensive webinar catalog

    • Interactive Product Tours

      Explore the complete CXone cloud platform with our instant self-guided product tours.

    • Why NICE? Video Series

      Step Inside The Room Where It Happened to see CX AI in action

  • Company

    About NICE

    • About Us

      Powering seamless experiences in the cloud

    • NICE Leadership

      Meet our global leadership and executive team

    • Careers

      View job openings and learn about our culture

    • NICE Trust Center

      Securing your trust with every interaction

    • Events

      Upcoming Events & Webinars

    • Market Leadership

      Discover why NICE is the market leader

    • Press Releases

      Find the latest updates from NICE

    • Investors

      Investors relations, reports and filings

    • Corporate Responsibility

      In a world where you can be anything, be NICE

    • Global Office Locations

      Interactive map of office locations worldwide

    • Media Center

      Media contacts and resources

    • EN
      • English
      • Deutsch
      • Français
      • 日本
      • 简体中文
      • العربية
      • 한국
      • Español
    • Get in Touch
      • Login
      • Status
      • Support
      • Partners
      • Pricing
      • Careers
      linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

    Company

    • About Us
    • Careers
    • Global Leadership
    • Media Center
    • Investors
    • Awards
    • Global Office Locations
    • Contact Us
    • CCaaS
    • Customer Experience
    • NICE Public Safety
    • NICE Actimize
    • NICE RPA

    Partners

    • NICE Partners Overview
    • Developer Partners (DEVone)
    • CXone Partner Portal
    • NICE Help Partner Portal
    • NICE User Group

    Customer Support

    • Customer Support Overview
    • CXone Support Login
    • NICE Customer Support

    Want to Learn More?

    Join the Newsletter

    STAY CONNECTED

    linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin
    • Terms of Use
    • Site Map
    • Privacy Policy
    • Legal
    • Cookies Settings
    • Accessibility
    © 2024 NICE
    artificial intelligence

    Defining Artificial Intelligence: Say “Hello!”

    by Tamsin Dollin
    November 24, 2019
    Share

    Are you ever confused by the term AI? In this blog post, we’ll clear up some common misconceptions, outline what it really is, and explore the different branches of AI being leveraged in modern contact center software today. The term AI is more than just a buzzword! Let’s dive a little deeper!

    Artificial Intelligence

    A lot of people are confused about the term “AI” – and we can probably blame the movies for some of that! Growing up in the 70s, I was obsessed with Star Trek and Star Wars. My favorite character was C-3PO, the quippy humanoid robot who dispensed thoughtful, cautious advice to his human and (droid) friends. Decades later, AI is more popular than ever in our entertainment from predicting which citizens will commit a crime based on foreknowledge in Minority Report, to robot pandemonium in I, Robot.

    AI today

    A wide range of applications are powered by AI technologies today – everything from your email spam filter to self-driving cars.  In fact, we use AI all the time in our daily lives -- but we often don’t realize it’s AI. For example:

    • Your digital phone and any late-model car
    • Your newsfeed & email spam filter
    • GPS navigation that gets you around a new city
    • Virtual Assistants in our hands and our homes
    • That smart home thermostat you splurged on
    • Your personalized recommendations from Amazon & Netflix

    …all these things use some form of AI.

    gps

    Common misconceptions

    Since “AI” refers to all the above, then it’s no wonder many of us are confused. Let’s clear up two very common misconceptions:

    Now let’s dive deeper with some context for the different calibers, or levels, of AI.

    Levels of AI: from Narrow AI to Superintelligence

    AI is a branch of computer science that’s broadly described as the concept of machines being able to carry out tasks in a way that we would consider “smart”.  Although AI is widely known for being “cutting edge” and futuristic, the processes and concepts behind it have been around for a while. The term was coined in the mid 1950’s by John McCarthy as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines".

    How intelligent? Well, it depends on the application. Generally, AI breaks down to different calibers (or levels).

    • The lowest caliber of AI is called “Artificial Narrow Intelligence” (ANI). ANI is AI that is able to handle just one particular task. For example, there’s AI that can beat the world chess champion in chess – but that’s the only thing it does. That’s why narrow AI is also called “weak AI”. Incredibly, Siri, Alexa and even Watson, IBM’s supercomputer that can beat humans at Jeopardy! are examples of narrow AI.As of now, we have conquered the lowest caliber of AI—ANI— in many ways, and it’s everywhere.
    • The next level of AI is “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI). AGI is considered “strong AI” – and sometimes called human-level. General/strong AI is much harder to achieve than narrow/weak AI. It has a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. My friend C-3PO – a droid programmed for etiquette and protocol – is a good example of strong AI. It’s probably no surprise that we’re still trying to achieve this caliber of AI.
    • “Superintelligence” is the highest caliber of AI. It ranges from a computer that’s just a little smarter than a human to one that’s trillions of times smarter in all topics. We have yet to master this level of cognitive intelligence, which blends multiple types of AI techniques, including Machine Learning, Neural Networks and Deep Learning. For example, this would be like HAL 9000 from Space Odyssey – the supercomputer who speaks in a soft, calm voice and a conversational manner and is capable of speech, speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotional behaviors, automated reasoning, spacecraft piloting – and playing chess.

    Many ways to achieve AI: Branches and subfields of AI

    Here’s another thing to keep in mind about AI: While it’s generally used as a blanket term, there are many ways AI can be achieved. Without a doubt, AI is a diverse and expansive field. There are many branches and subfields of AI. Each operate a little differently -- and employ different techniques. 

    Often, AI applications employ a combination of AI subfields and algorithms. For example, IBM’s Watson – the genius computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language – uses expert systems, combined with elements of machine learning, speech, and natural language processing.

    How modern contact centers use AI today

    • AI-powered Chatbots and Self-Service: Due to advancements in machine learning, natural language processing and speech recognition, the cost of developing chatbots has come down drastically, which, along with consumer acceptance, is fueling the explosive growth of this market. Chatbots scale quite easily and can handle hundreds of conversations at a time. This makes them the perfect candidates for tasks with a predictable and well-defined conversation flow. Machine Learning and NLP power AI chatbots and Virtual Assistants that can greet and authenticate customers and offer a variety of self-service options – from simple password reset to more complex things like account and order management.
    • Conversational IVR: Modern natural language IVR systems use Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) software to make voice self-service more conversational.
    • Forecasting: Machine Learning algorithms generate workforce forecasting and scheduling that eliminate guesswork, simplify complex scenarios – and improve in accuracy with each iteration.
    • Analytics: AI-powered analytics software for contact centers combines Natural Language Understanding and Machine Learning to determine sentiment, context and meaning when analyzing voice and text interactions.

    Discover how your organization measures up

    How ready is your organization to adopt AI capabilities in your contact center? How do you compare to your peers? Where should you start or focus your investment in AI?

    • Take this short interactive Forrester AI Readiness Assessment to find out now. (It only takes a few minutes to get your own customized recommendations with insights on your organization’s readiness to adopt AI technologies and available next steps.)
    • Join the conversation by registering for our upcoming webinar, “The AI-enabled Contact Center”, where we’ll explore the ROI of incorporating artificial intelligence to streamline operations, enhance experience and reduce costs. Register now!

    The AI Enabled Contact Center

    Thursday, December 5, 2019 – 1:00 PM ET

    Register for the webinar

    About the Author

    Tamsin Dollin

    See All Blogs

    Follow Us

    Follow us to get the latest news from your preferred Social Network

    linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

    Popular Posts

    November 12, 2024

    The State of CX report: We’ve got plenty to share from our abundance of riches

    Read

    November 6, 2024

    Customer Feedback Unplugged: Harnessing VOC insights to boost agent performance and elevate CX

    Read
    CXone Mpower: Automating every dimension of customer service on the ultimate AI hyper platform

    November 5, 2024

    CXone Mpower: Automating every dimension of customer service on the ultimate AI hyper platform

    Read

    October 29, 2024

    How a focus on soft skills empowers agents and boosts CX

    Read

    October 28, 2024

    How contact centres are transforming through artificial and augmented intelligence

    Read

    More from the blog

    AINovember 12, 2024

    The State of CX report: We’ve got plenty to share from our abundance of riches

    NICE is lucky to have an abundance of riches—I’m speaking of data, of course. Through our proprietary AI built just for CX, we’ve gathered data for over three decades amounting to billions of interactions.

    Read
    Voice of the CustomerNovember 6, 2024

    Customer Feedback Unplugged: Harnessing VOC insights to boost agent performance and elevate CX

    Agent engagement and satisfaction have become proxy measures for CX success, because in study after study, it’s been proven that happier agents lead to happier customers.

    Read
    CXone Mpower: Automating every dimension of customer service on the ultimate AI hyper platform
    Advantages of the CloudNovember 5, 2024

    CXone Mpower: Automating every dimension of customer service on the ultimate AI hyper platform

    It’s here. Right on time. At the precise moment when market demands and expectations for seamless customer service have become paramount to a brand’s success, a customer service platform with speed, intelligence and power has burst onto the scene with an all-encompassing solution.

    Read
  • Robots are not AI… stop thinking of robots. A robot is a container for AI (sometimes mimicking the human form, sometimes not) but the AI itself is the computer inside the robot.
  • AI is not one “thing”. It is an evolving set of technologies that use some form of analytics as its base.