Building communications for future generations with Stem education

Our Post-COVID: Digital Practices for an Enhanced Consumer Experience report shows that the vast majority (69%) of Americans have increased expectations on customer service. With 59% planning to move more shopping online, they also would be looking for instantaneous customer service via digital channels.

For businesses, this means more pressure to provide quality customer experience. This has given rise to AI-powered customer care solutions, and chatbot integrations are rising in order to manage basic customer inquiries while leaving more complex issues to support agents.

However, there is a mixed reaction towards chatbots, with only a quarter of Americans saying they have used a chatbot to communicate with a business. From those who have 69% of them said it was a good experience.

The reason for the slow uptake is – many end-users get frustrated speaking to simple keyword chatbots and have had negative experiences. That’s because people crave for personalized and digital human interactions. The frustration builds when a customer feels stuck talking to a machine that clearly cannot resolve the issue without the option to enter free text outside the existing conversation flow.

The solution to that is: an intelligent chatbot building platform that allows businesses to create AI chatbots that can recognize customers’ intent, instantly provide information on any channel, and, best of all, never takes a day off. The chatbot can resolve common queries and assist customers as a true virtual assistant that’s capable of having real conversations.

And to have real conversations – it’s important to program chatbots so they talk the way humans do.

An article from Psychology Today explained how adults distort reality based on perception, current focus, and experiences. When it comes to building a new chatbot, the same rules apply and these filters act as roadblocks between great ideas and the next great chatbot.

Kids, aka Generation Alpha, have less of these filters. Today’s generation of children has grown up in a world of technology. It’s a radically different upbringing to that of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, or even Generation Z. The way these young people communicate with others and the kinds of experiences they gravitate towards will be fundamentally different to those before them.

They are as inquisitive as they are technologically adept, and by 2030 they will have become customers, making purchases using their own money and interacting with businesses and organizations. They will bring their socially conscious attitude to the products and services they use or resistance to friction-filled customer journeys.

So, in partnership with STEMwave we decided to teach them to create a chatbot from scratch during a programming course to understand what can be achieved with this new technology.

STEMwave is a global movement changing STEM education with innovative industry-based programs for middle schools and high schools. Together, with Infobip’s cutting-edge AI communication technology they are helping schools evolve into those of the future.

These schools of the future bridge the gap between the tech industry and education to become relevant sources for diverse skills which closely mirror the future of work.

Our world is driven by artificial intelligence. It influences the way we communicate, socialize, and make decisions. The industry is going through a transformation unseen since the invention of electricity or the internet.

Generation Alpha’s tech-savvy upbringing makes them already accustomed to using smart devices connected to the internet as a source of information. Interactions with AI are being normalized by the increasing use of smart speakers in homes to provide information and solve problems. They are already influencers in the consumer journey and are comfortable having “real conversations” through technology. The Infobip and STEMwave partnership help take this real-world knowledge, to the next level by preparing students for success in this new technology-driven world, and also inspiring the future of communications.

With STEMwave students gain an understanding of crucial technologies and explore their ability to create positive change in their community. Built around the AI-Driven Communication program, it introduces students to the world of AI through a chatbot development project for their school. This unique experience serves as a steppingstone in the students’ future tech careers and sets the foundation for creating schools of the future.

By building a chatbot for their schools, students get a chance to give back to their community by working on a socially responsible project directly affecting their surroundings.

This can be seen in practice through our collaboration, where students in Croatia have used Answers in classrooms to explore problems and create solutions for the local community. Infobip engineers are present to explain to students how the AI chatbot building platform works, providing a real connection with the industry and allowing young talent to see the role of an engineer first-hand. They see them as real people that they can relate to and aspire to.

Another example is the EcoEnergy Bot developed by a primary school in Croatia, which educates users on renewable energy sources to reduce human impact on the planet. 

The pandemic highlighted the need for more meaningful conversations. STEMwave with Infobip will bring together students from Europe and the USA to work together, connecting and exchanging experiences virtually, without borders.

The vision of Industry 5.0 as “an economy that works for people” will only be made reality if children can develop the holistic set of skills and competencies required to work with technology and use it to solve future challenges.