As a response to my article about rapport building in contact centres published in ICMI yesterday, my good friend Ultan Ó Broin questioned the script-driven approach sometimes used, and asked the above question.

Seeing as it’s Friday, why not ask the most appropriate resource available…AI itself – here’s what it had to say. We’ll refer to this AI as ‘Patrick’. As you can see in the picture, Patrick wears the ‘craic’ well, but can he deliver?

Teaching AI to have "the craic" involves instilling a sense of humour and the ability to engage in playful, witty, and enjoyable conversation, much like the spirited social interaction celebrated in Irish culture.

Here are a few strategies that could be employed:

Understanding Cultural Nuances:
AI needs to comprehend cultural references, idioms, and humour specific to the culture where "craic" is valued. This could involve training on datasets that include colloquial language, jokes, and conversational patterns typical in Irish social settings.

Natural Language Understanding:
Enhance the AI's capability to understand and generate natural language. This includes grasping context, irony, and the subtleties of humour. Models like GPT are trained on diverse text inputs that help them understand and generate human-like text.

Emotional Intelligence:
AI should be able to detect and respond appropriately to the emotional tone of a conversation. This includes recognising when to be humorous and when to be serious, adapting to the mood and flow of the dialogue.

Interactive Learning:
Implementing interactive learning scenarios where the AI can engage in real-time conversations with humans and receive feedback on its performance. This could help the AI learn what works and what doesn’t in a casual, fun conversation.

Generative Capabilities:
Enhancing the AI's ability to generate diverse and creative responses. This can be achieved by training on a wide range of conversational data, including witty exchanges, which can teach the AI to be more spontaneous and engaging.

Feedback Loops:
Regularly updating the AI's training based on user interactions and feedback can help refine its conversational abilities and sense of humour, making its "craic" more genuine and enjoyable.

By combining these approaches, an AI can be better equipped to not just understand but actively participate in and contribute to the light-hearted, engaging banter that defines having the craic.

Mine’s a Guinness please Patrick!! Happy Friday everyone - may the road rise up to meet you!!

By Dara Kiernan

Keywords: AI, Customer Experience, Generative AI