RBS introduces robot Luvo to answer customers’ phone queries

Bank customers stuck queuing on the telephone may have a saviour – a robot named Luvo.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has turned to the world of ‘human artificial intelligence’ to tackle the backlog of calls which can leave customers frustrated.

The AI system – which has a human-like personality – will help staff answer customer questions more quickly by supplying “huge amounts of information” in seconds, the lender said.

It will then talk through the answer with the member of staff on a web chat system, or pass the question on to someone else in the team who can solve more difficult problems.

The bank is also investigating whether to cut out the middle man and let Luvo interact directly with customers, if a small number of trials prove successful.

RBS – which is 73% owned by the taxpayer – said the AI has a ” unique psychological profile” and a “warmth” to its personality, which is approachable, creative and uses intuition and reasoning when answering questions.

But it said the move was not a step towards cutting jobs, but was being rolled out to help staff improve customer service.

Simon McNamara, RBS chief administrative officer, said: ” Luvo is a really exciting new technology that brings artificial intelligence to life and will help our staff serve customers better by resolving their questions and problems much more quickly.

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