Air India bets on generative AI; to introduce more AI features to address customer queries

Air India plans to introduce sophisticated features to its generative artificial intelligence virtual agent that handles more than 6,000 customer queries daily.

The Tata Group-owned airline is using ChatGPT to analyse even some complex questions it may not be able to immediately answer to improve customer experience in later interactions and is helping it to become more attuned to natural language.

In a release on Friday, Air India said it has become the world’s first airline to have successfully deployed a Generative AI virtual agent ‘Maharaja’, powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service.

The agent has successfully answered over half a million customer queries since its pilot launch in March 2023, and today manages over 6,000 queries a day in four languages, the release said.

According to the airline, ‘Maharaja’ manages an extensive spectrum of customer queries across 1,300 areas, including those related to flight status, baggage allowances, packing restrictions, check-in, frequent flyer awards, airport lounge access, flight changes and refunds.

The agent speaks Hindi, English, French, and German.

”Of the 6,000-plus questions received each day, over 80 per cent are successfully answered in seconds. About 15 per cent of customer queries today require additional assistance, and Maharaja recognises this automatically and orchestrates a seamless handoff to Air India’s contact centre agents,” the release said.

In the coming months, the airline plans to launch a host of sophisticated features, driven by patent-pending technologies.

”This includes a novel user experience that changes the way customers interact with AI agents with a combination of textual and graphical interactions that can potentially further speed up customer interactions… Air India also plans to enhance the current AI agent with data-driven deep-personalisation capabilities,” the release said.

Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Air India, said that after the emergence of Large Language Model driven generative AI capabilities, it is increasingly seeing a definitive shift in guest preferences to use chat interactions to get the information and support they need quickly.

Air India also said that generative AI solutions help automate repetitive and mundane tasks such as booking, cancellation and confirmation, and free up bandwidth for human agents to focus on more complex and value-adding interactions.

The full service carrier has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan.