Anna is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. Her background in journalism spurred her interest in the intersection of power, identity, and media. She has a master’s in Gender, Media and Culture from The London School of Economics, where she researched media representation and diversity. Outside of work she can be found gardening, taking too many photos, or endlessly trying to crochet the same scarf.

Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience. 

Personal Worlds

People are taking a patchwork approach to self-expression to feel like they have control over how their identity is generated. Yet as individual expression becomes more mutable and mistrust in social systems abounds, there’s one place above all that people are seeking integrity and guidance: brands.

Reality Split

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve interacted with AI at some point today. Maybe you asked Siri what the weather was like, trying to decide whether or not you needed to grab that umbrella. Perhaps you had Alexa put on your morning playlist, or maybe you spoke to a chatbot in your banking app. While most people are aware of AI in everyday life, many could not accurately point it out each time they encountered it. 

Pew Research Center

 But no matter what form, as more processes and everyday tasks become automated, both businesses and consumers have to ask important questions, taking into consideration what they want these interactions to look like going forward.

And while 52% of consumers say they think generative AI is here for good and not simply a fad, a much lower proportion believe it is ‘very trustworthy’, with only 10% saying so. 

Morning Consult

 With 74% of users saying privacy policies were too difficult to understand, and one study finding that most were so complex they required a graduate level degree for true comprehension, there’s a real need for innovation that ushers in transparency and accessibility, especially when it comes to technology. 

Internet Retailing

Digit

But as AI becomes more personalised and ultimately, routine, there’s a growing desire to better understand how it operates, where it’s headed, and most importantly, how to improve consumer trust. While people were open to the automation AI could provide, it did not serve as a replacement for human connection and when Google released their AI chatbot Bard, senior product director Jack Krawcyzk noted the experimental and fluid nature of the system, saying he hoped it would be a “launchpad for creativity”. 

There’s the idea that innovation skyrockets during economic downturns and global instability. And as that innovation spurs changes in artificial intelligence, “we have an opportunity because of that innovation, to create something new, something more balanced”, says Laetitia Cailleteau, global lead for conversational AI at Accenture. For more than two decades, Cailleteau has worked at the intersection of technology, business, and human desire and understanding. Leading up Accenture’s data and AI ventures in Europe, she takes pride in the creation of new possibilities and worlds that are being opened up by AI, and technology in a broader sense.

As a woman in tech, Cailleteau has an intrinsic focus on inclusion and diversity and applies these frameworks to her work in AI, investigating the ways that the technology can be used as a tool for connection and inclusion. “Obviously the innovation itself is one thing, but what’s more important is the larger ecosystem around the innovation,” she says. Equipped with the foundational belief that 

 is pivotal to a career in technology, she’s well-positioned to ask the hard questions and get answers when it comes to where innovation in the artificial intelligence industry is headed, and the implications it has for brands looking to get on board.

For this Thought Leader report, Canvas8 spoke with Cailleteau to learn more about what it takes for brands to successfully utilise and navigate these ever-evolving technologies.

There’s been a lot of talk about innovation in the AI sector. What are some of the biggest tension points we’re facing, specifically when it comes to conversational AI?

Artificial intelligence has been around since the 1950s, and we’ve gone through these ‘AI winters’ and then we enter periods of golden years. The rise of cloud computing made things cheaper and more accessible, and that’s when conversational AI really began to pick up.

The relationship between humans and computers is evolving constantly, and the way computers process language and communicate has become more human. If you look back 20 years, the way to interact with a computer was learning to code, which was a much more stringent approach. We’re now headed to something more fluid. So as new architectures and levels of interaction emerge, we need to ensure we’re building systems that don’t breach human rights. But lots of these things are very subjective, so building a larger regulatory framework is very much needed, and is still a big impediment.

AI is increasingly being designed to be more empathetic and inclusive, which are obviously very human qualities. How do you walk the fine line between creating solutions that people like and solutions that then scare them because they’re too real?

What you’re referring to is called the ‘uncanny valley’ and it’s been studied for years. We’re getting more used to computers in our lives, but the threshold of what we think is incredibly weird hasn’t changed. And that weirdness can happen when we anthropomorphise technology, which I don’t think we should do. Brands should have frameworks in order to determine what sort of data they need to gather on people so they can best understand them. But there’s a balance between behaving like a human and looking like a human, and people need those frameworks to determine where the boundary lies.

But there are times when qualities like empathy are helpful. I have a number of initiatives in the elder care space and there’s a purpose for being empathetic. In a healthcare scenario, empathy makes sense, but for a financial transaction? Checking your bank account? That doesn’t make much sense. The other thing to consider is that machines don’t get bored in the way humans do. But the patience of the machine can be a benefit, especially if someone needs more time or doesn’t want to feel judged. When it comes to personal finance, many people may actually be more comfortable interacting with a machine, especially if they’re having financial anxiety or other difficulties. But the key thing is to always disclose to people that they’re interacting with artificial intelligence.

What do you think are some ways that brands can make sure that talking to a chatbot doesn’t feel like an inferior customer service solution as opposed to talking with a human?

I haven’t seen many brands doing it perfectly. If you’re just automating existing processes with conversational AI, ultimately no one is going to want to use it. Because it’s much easier to fill in a form and do stuff on the web than it is to speak with a robot. Experience and user design is really important, and if you’re using AI it really needs to reinvent things and in the end shift the focus back to the human. If you don’t do that, you likely won’t get the return you’re hoping for on your investment. But like I said, if you just automate existing processes, people are going to get bored and you’re going to miss the opportunity.

Because the technology is so accessible, it’s really easy for teams who aren’t experts in AI to start using it in their departments. And then you sometimes hit this point where you have a bunch of different virtual assistants in different departments, and there’s no real purpose to each of them. Brands need to really think: this is a new way of engagement, what do we want it to look like? Lots of places will have call centres, digital channels, etc., but what really needs to happen is a sort of harmony that brings all of those places together, to make it more holistic cross-channel. But in the long run, the primary driver should be the customer experience, not the business case or goal you want to achieve. I think that’s where we’re seeing a real shift in the industry. People have been very focused on making sure they save money or time, but we have to think of the customer first.

And what about the consumer? Do you see any really big generational differences when it comes to people’s attitudes towards AI chatbots? What do you think leads to those differences?

There are a lot of differences, and it’s linked to societal norms and expectations. When we started working with older generations we had to consider the topic of loneliness. As mobility has increased within society – it’s easy to take a plane or live somewhere further from your family – older people tend to feel quite isolated, especially as they have less physical proximity to other people. I worked with a woman who had a hip problem and couldn’t get to the phone in time and would miss the call. And then no one would call her back for a month. But AI can be a solution. Maybe it’s offering people a system that increases accessibility, or something more visual for someone who doesn’t hear well.

Technology has created a generational gap in the way we communicate and now we’re really working now to reconnect those who have been disconnected. And when it comes to younger generations, they don’t seem to think this technology is revolutionary. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t also prioritise trust – so when we create AI systems we need to take into account many behaviours to make sure we bring it into people’s homes in a trustworthy way.

There’s a lot of concern about jobs, but we have to remember that with every form of innovation, a new stream of meaningful jobs will be created. It’s just hard to know what they’ll be when we’re in the moment – because it’s sort of a trickle-down effect a lot of the time. So yes, the innovation aspect is important for brands to consider, but they also have to look at the whole ecosystem around that innovation and consider the larger cultural context of what’s led us to this moment and how people are reacting.

We think a lot about the right brain and left brain – we split people up really early on in life, and they grow up in different spheres as a result. But in order to have a truly successful interaction between humans and machines, we need to bring both of those brains together. In order to create something different, we have to take a blended approach. OpenAI has done this really well – they had a lot of designers really considering the soft skills, the power of language, all things like that.

When creating an AI system I use the example of a Quentin Tarantino film because it’s a best practice case study on how to create real, meaningful conversation. No matter the industry you’re in, your end goal should be trying to ensure that the customer has a good experience – you want them to enjoy the experience, rather than focusing solely on how to make things easier for the business or save money and overhead. We don’t have too many conversational designers in the field right now, but it’s a really valuable investment.

of consumers think that generative AI is not a fad and is here to stay

 of consumers say privacy policies are too difficult to understand 

 of people find generative AI ‘very trustworthy’

As conversational AI becomes more embedded in daily life, people want to understand how it operates, where it’s headed, and whether it can be trusted

Simply automating customer service with conversational AI will not be greeted by consumers – they’re looking for a quality user experience and seamless design

While there are significant generational differences in perceptions of AI, the technology has the power to simplify daily life for people of all ages and abilities

Laetitia Caillteau is the global lead for conversational AI at Accenture, helping companies build on the power of technology and human ingenuity in an ethical way.

Technology

Conversational AI is becoming embedded in people’s daily routines, with the technology becoming an increasing priority for companies across sectors. However, as people continue to voice mixed emotions around its introduction, how can brands help to build trust and develop quality user experiences?