This sector won’t see job losses due to chatbots, artificial intelligence

The Indian banking sector is claiming that chatbots and Artificial Intelligence won’t take away jobs, even as the financial sector wants technology to give enhanced customer experience.

Many experts have said AI will results in job losses in various sectors, however, banks say chatbots and AI will just compliment the staff members.

It is worth mentioning the State Bank of India (SBI) is working with IBM to make use of Watson - an answering computer software to assist staff and employees.

Even HDFC Bank has tied up with artificial intelligence firm Niki to bring in conversational banking. Similarly, Yes Bank along with Payjo will launch AI-led digital initiatives.

"We find that chatbots are useful for employees. For instance, if an employee has entered a particular screen and does not know how to proceed, the software will sense inactivity and a bot will pop-up offering assistance," Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, deputy MD and chief information officer, SBI, told ET.

Nitin Chugh, digital banking head HDFC Bank, told ET the website chatbot has seen one lakh conversations in one week, with the bot concurrently running 700-750 conversations.

However, he says bots are not there to replace customer executives. "In any case the routine queries are moving to the self-service mode. Most of the calls now pertain to when the caller is worried about a transaction and wants to speak to a human," Chugh told ET.