Qatar Airways introduces Sama 2.0, a generative AI-powered virtual assistant, to transform its customer service. Featuring lifelike expressions and capabilities such as flight booking and transactions, Sama 2.0 is set within the airline's QVerse metaverse platform, offering personalized, interactive experiences. This upgrade aims to improve customer engagement, efficiency, and sales, while laying the groundwork for the future of digital interaction in the travel industry.
Qatar Airways is revolutionizing its customer service by upgrading its virtual assistant, Sama, with advanced generative AI technology, aiming to enhance the travel booking experience and boost sales. The new iteration, Sama 2.0, presents a more lifelike AI, featuring expressions and the illusion of breathing, moving away from her previous videogame-like persona towards a more authentic passenger interaction model.
Soon, Sama will evolve into an agent AI capable of booking flights and handling transactions directly for customers, marking a significant step in AI development within the industry, according to the airline.
Sama 2.0 is integrated into Qatar Airways' virtual reality platform, QVerse, allowing users to interact through voice or text. They can inquire about various services including seat preferences, dining options, luggage policies, and proceed with flight bookings. This initiative turns the QVerse into an interactive platform, enhancing customer engagement, as highlighted by Babar Rahman, the airline's vice president of marketing.
The introduction of generative AI is transforming customer service across different brands, improving interactions beyond the limitations of traditional chatbots. For instance, the kitchen appliance brand Lēvo has seen sales growth by incorporating generative AI into its customer service operations. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will use generative AI to some extent, enhancing both agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
Jason Snyder, CTO of Momentum Worldwide, points out that Sama 2.0 represents a significant leap towards more empathetic and personalized customer interactions through AI. Despite existing challenges, the potential for creating deeply personalized and emotionally engaging experiences is substantial.
Sama 2.0 operates on Synanim, UneeQ's cutting-edge animation technology, providing her with a compelling backstory and enhancing the authenticity of customer interactions. She is designed to deliver contextually relevant conversations based on extensive training from Qatar Airways' data, including customer interactions and adherence to brand guidelines.
Originally, Sama had limitations in understanding complex queries, but with generative AI, she now offers more nuanced and contextual dialogue within QVerse, as mentioned by Danny Tomsett, CEO of UneeQ.
However, as AI chatbots become more realistic, they approach but do not fully mimic human interaction, which can be disconcerting for some users. Gartner's Andrew Frank emphasized the need for transparency and caution as these technologies advance.
Sama 2.0, currently available in English, will expand to support 12 languages, including Arabic. When unable to resolve a query, Sama directs customers to human support.
The QVerse platform, launched in April 2022, allows users to preview their in-flight experience virtually, contributing to significant returns on advertising and product investments. According to Rahman, this platform has attracted many first-time bookers, underlining the value of AI-enhanced interactive experiences in encouraging travel bookings with Qatar Airways.
Sourse: Adweek, Qatar Airways
