The year is 2024. The robots have officially taken over.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, it’s almost impossible to talk about CRM these days without also talking about AI.
Point in case: when Salesforce hosted their annual Dreamforce convention in San Francisco earlier this year, it was actually dubbed “The World’s Largest AI Event”, rather than the largest CRM conference, as it was known in the before-times.
The rebrand makes sense. AI has sparked a slew of new features that are popping up almost every week. A few years ago, we couldn’t even dream of the tools we have at our disposal today. It’s a great time to be a marketer.
Consumers, on the other hand, seem slightly more apprehensive towards our new digital overlords.
Customers still crave the human touch
While words like “productivity” and “efficiency” are often floated when companies talk about AI, many consumers have expressed concerns over trust and ethicality — not to mention the loss of human interactions.
In fact, 58% of US consumers say that communicating with an actual person is what makes a brand interaction a good customer experience.
And in a world increasingly run by algorithms, that human element is more important than ever.
“So, should I use AI or not?”
Well, the neat part about AI is that you don’t have to choose between it and staying human.
Think of it this way. As the gap between early adopters and the tech-hesitant grows wider than ever, there’s a lot of room for you to play around with AI.
In the immortal words of the girl from the Old El Paso commercial: 
But only if you’re using it right — and for the right reasons.
If you look at AI exclusively as a way to cut costs, even replacing a few employees along the way, then sure, you may very well achieve your objectives.
Yay!
But here’s the problem: humans are more than just a number, and also don’t particularly like being treated as one…so you’ll probably see your customer satisfaction shrink as well (not to mention your revenue).
Distinctly less yay.
So, let’s adjust our perspective. If you see AI as a way to automate certain tasks, even entire workflows, allowing you to put more energy into enhancing the customer experience — well, that’s when the magic happens.
By adding a pinch of analytical insights, sprinkling in some contextual recommendations, and pouring a splash of human content direction, AI can cook up a whole lot more than just ways for you to cut costs.
“AI won’t replace you. A person using AI will.”
- Ancient LinkedIn Proverb
Want an example?
When Danish tech start-up Be My Eyes launched in 2015, they wanted to allow visually impaired individuals to “borrow” a pair of eyes from a fully sighted person, using an app, to help them tackle life’s different challenges.
In March 2023, they added OpenAI’s GPT-4 language model into the app, creating a Virtual Visual Volunteer able to generate spoken words from images.
What sets this apart from others is that it can apply context allowing it to, as an example, tell you which shirt is which.
(Source: Be My Eyes).
Not cool enough for you? Well, try sending it a pic of your refrigerator.
Not only can it identify what ingredients are shown in the picture. It can also analyze what dishes can be made with those ingredients, and offer recipes and instructions on how to prepare them.
Heart-warming? Yes!
Feel-good story? Yep!
A great example of using AI to improve the user experience? Is it ever!
But I thought AI could never replace humans?
That’s right! The way we see it (and we can’t speak for the robots) is that AI is at its best when humans use it to help other humans — not replace them.
Be My Eyes is a great example. Every day, over 7 million human volunteers sign into the app to offer blind and low-vision users assistance in over 180 languages. And if the AI Virtual Volunteer can’t answer a question, it will automatically offer users the option to be connected to a human.
So, maybe we can all get along together after all?