An AI Personal Banking Assistant in the Making: KBC

28

September

2020

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Most of us have heard of the quote “Banking is necessary. Banks are not.” by Bill Gates. It is becoming increasingly important to be innovative and potentially disruptive through technological advancements. Industries revolve around being consumer-centric, and any lag in following consumer trends, from the business-perspective, can be troubling. The banking sector is no different. Banks are argued to become irrelevant as we move to a digitised world and landscape. Due to this, banks have a duty to diversify and develop adjacent value propositions that also address non-core needs; to create an overall platform that users enjoy or reach for, beyond the traditional banking needs.

 

KBC Group N.V. is a Belgian multi-channel universal bank-insurer that operate in Belgium, Ireland, Central Europe, and South-East Asia (KBC, 2020). They are a forerunner and frontline player when it comes to innovating and expanding services targeted towards consumers. Currently, a strong focus has been placed on AI and data driven analyses to allow for “fast decision making-processes” (Huybrecht, 2020). KBC dove into their digital strategy back in 2017 with a budget of 1.5 billion euros (Hope, 2020).

 

KBC has always been fast with hopping on the bandwagon. Back in 2018, it was the first European Bank allowing users with Alexa the ability to use speech technology to organize banking affairs or check their balance (Huybrecht, 2018).

 

‘In light of the fast-changing customer expectations, we reassessed our group’s ‘More of the same, but differently’ strategy at the end of 2019 and identified where our focus should lie in the years ahead. With ‘Differently: the Next Level’, we’re continuing down our chosen route, but are now shifting up a gear. – Johan Thijs, CEO of KBC Group

 

Next, we have “Kate”. Kate was announced past June, this year, as the first AI powered personal digital assistant for clients. It acts as a voice operated smartphone application with a full-rounded experience: “organize banking affairs…., retrieve personal documents, make investment suggestions and even buy and pay for a train ticket” (Hope, 2020). Kate not only performs the simple banking transfers, but also provides smart suggestions such as switching energy provider (there may be one that is 40euros cheaper than what you are paying) (Hope, 2020). This means Kate will join the current list of AI assistants such as Alexa by Amazon, Google Home, and Siri (mbs.news, 2020). MbS News (2020) has even gone as far as suggesting that KBC “claims a place under the sun next to Google and Amazon”.

 

 

The exciting thing about Kate is, as outlined, it will go beyond your typical banking or financing application. Not only is it smart and AI-powered, it will we able to help with any type of question ranging from “switching energy supplier to arranging a hospital check-in with your insurer” (mbs.news, 2020). Essentially it aims to be a “service platform of which banking services is one of the modules” (mbs.news, 2020).

 

Platforms are vastly replacing product business models and will continute to do so. The future of any company lies in their digital strategy and the ability to innovate. This is how giants such as Apple, Amazon, and Google have thrived. KBC, a (mere?) Belgian bank, has now jumped on this trend too. I wonder what will be next?

 

Kate will be launched in November for personal clients and will follow later on for business clients.

 

References:

Hope, A., 2020. KBC clients get to know Kate, their new digital assistant. BrusselsTimes, 21 June.

Huybrecht, V., 2018. Discover virtual assistant Alexa and The Virtual Space at KBC. [Online]
Available at: https://newsroom.kbc.com/discover-virtual-assistant-alexa-and-the-virtual-space-at-kbc

Huybrecht, V., 2020. KBC shifts digital transformation and customer experience up a gear: ‘Differently: the Next Level’. [Online]
Available at: https://newsroom.kbc.com/kbc-shifts-digital-transformation-and-customer-experience-up-a-gear-differently-the-next-level
[Accessed 2020].

KBC, 2020. KBC. s.l.:s.n.

mbs.news, 2020. KBC’s Kate claims a place under the sun next to Google and Amazon. MBS.News, 19 June.

 

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A World Without Background Noise

10

September

2020

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Facebook Reality Labs Research has recently published a look inside their brand-new AR glasses that will reduce all background noise to create ‘super’ hearing. Outside factors such as constant background noise, distance, or mere personal hearing problems will no longer play a role. We live in a world where so much is being improved through the use of technology, so why not apply this to something as simple as hearing? This is exactly what Facebook was thinking.

 

The ‘glasses’ themselves, as Facebook is calling them, are intended to wipe out all distractions when using VR that could disrupt the feel of the environment you are ‘in’. However, Facebook decided they wanted to even take it one step further: not only “audio presence” but also “perceptual superpowers”. “Audio presence” is about feeling virtually present in VR, and “perceptual superpowers” is about connecting with others when you’re at a loud bar/restaurant and no longer needing to scream as means of communicating due to the noise (Jaloza, 2020).

 

This technology is highly dependent on understanding how sound travels in a space and bounces off walls. This is where “spatialized audio” comes in: virtual audio that copies the way sound reaches you, from which exact direction. This was developed in 2017 and has been the frontier pushing hearing and sound technology to where it is now.

 

“I take to heart the overall Facebook mission, which is really about connecting people,” – Philip Robinson, Research Lead

 

The technology is not fully there yet, but the idea is. The ultimate goal is to be able to use microphones to capture the sounds, follow your eye patterns to figure out what you would like to hear, and then enhance/dim certain sounds for a fully personalised experience. Check out the video to get an idea of what this means:

blog post

The implications of this are vast. Imagine what this could do for people with normal hearing, and then think of what it could do for people with impaired hearing. This idea goes far beyond just technological advancements in true VR experiences, or even personal human connections, but extends all the way to possible health care improvements.

 

The technology could be years away from a proper launch or a true viable consumer product, but the fact that a prototype seems to be working is a huge step in the right direction. However, skeptics may be conflicted by the role of privacy and possibly overhearing sensitive conversations. To make this targeted at a mass market, both security and ethical implications will have to be evaluated to see the true potential. To take it one step further, how will this tie in with Facebook’s current data collection of their users and will it eventually become so commercialised that ads could even be introduced?

 

For now, all we can do, is enjoy the beauty of the prototype for this technology.

 

 

References:

Grad, P. (2020, september 8). Facebook focuses on smart audio for AR glasses. Tech Xplore.

Jaloza, L. B. (2020, September 3). Inside Facebook Reality Labs Research: The future of audio. Tech@Facebook.

Leprince-Ringuet, D. (2020, march 31). Facebook is trying to build AR glasses that just ‘melt away’, using this cutting-edge tech. ZDnet.

Robertson, A. (2020, September 3). Facebook wants its AR glasses to give wearers superhearing . The Verge.

 

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