Hey there,

No matter which generational bracket we find ourselves in, we will have experienced a technological leap or two in our time. AI is the latest – and potentially the greatest – to come along, and, like every breakthrough before it, the message is clear: this will change everything.

This time, it looks like the hype machine might just be right. But for CS teams and managers, it can be difficult to see a path from the current day-to-day to an AI-infused future. How can leaders make the transition as easy, reassuring, and yes, exciting as possible for their teams?

On the Intercom podcast, some of those leaders came together to chat through the rapidly changing customer service space, how they plan to incorporate AI into their teams, and how they’re involving their teams in building the new CS world.

Here are some ready-to-use insights from the discussion:

Get your team involved early. Transparent communication (in every direction), collaborative planning, and a clear strategy will ensure your team feels confident and empowered when welcoming AI to the team.
Optimize your help center to put your best foot forward when implementing an AI chatbot. That means updating existing content, planning new content, and creating templates to speed up future article production.
Test and iterate as you go. Your team will have lots of thoughts on where to start implementing AI in small, manageable ways, finding out what works, and expanding your efforts over time.
Secure team-wide consensus on how you will present AI chatbots to your customers. The leaders on the Intercom podcast recommend being totally transparent with your users in order to maximize customer satisfaction – and avoid an unsettling AI spinoff of MTV’s Catfish.

Hope these tips are helpful! This is unexplored territory, so trying new things and keeping the lines of communication open is the only way forward.

Who says there's no (A)I in team?

What’s been happening

David brodigan & Davin O'dwyer

Intercom’s AI glossary: Understanding GPT, neural networks, and more

One aspect of the AI revolution we didn’t see coming was the tsunami of jargon. We’ve put together the ultimate glossary of AI terms so you can keep up with any level of AI conversation – from LLM chats around the lunch table at work to in-depth explorations of neural networks (OK, maybe we’re overpromising just a smidge).

Use this as your one-stop guide to the acronyms, abbreviations, and complex phrases weaving their way through the AI conversation. You can’t put it off any longer – it’s time to learn what “GPT” stands for.

When generative AI met customer service

Emojis heads, X-Files music, AND customer service tips, tricks, and trivia?

It's all happening over on the Intercom TikTok channel. Here, our very own Liam Geraghty talks us through some of the mind-blowing (as pictured here) insights he received from MIT Ph.D. candidate Lindsey Redmond when they chatted about a recent study she was involved in.

They explore everything from why AI and CS are the perfect match, to the possibility of narrowing the productivity gap between the top- and bottom-performing support agents.

Dive in

Response Time: Vol. 8

This week, we caught up with another support leader for our Response Time series, where we chat with customer service leaders to find out what they think about support, their book recommendations, and the emoji they couldn't do without.

Read on to find out more about why Sarah Donahoo, Head of Marketing and Customer Success at Fugo.ai, chose CS over fame...

What's going on in customer service?

Customers are wary of bias and “hallucinations” in AI: Nearly half of Americans don't believe companies that are using generative AI are doing enough to protect users from bias and false information. How can businesses build trust in this new age?
How AI will help keep customers happy: The CEO of contact center software giant Nice explains why he thinks AI will amplify the skilled work that goes into providing excellent customer service.
AI enhances customer service, but watch out for these pitfalls: AI is all set to take your customer experience to the next level, but thoughtful implementation is essential if you want to preserve customer trust.