1|AI and Empathy

AI and
Empathy:
Combining artificial intelligence with
human ethics for better engagement

A study by Pega - updated July 2019

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If you believe the robot takeover is imminent, you’re not

alone. Science fiction has long painted artificial intelligence
(AI) overtaking and eventually enslaving humans. But today,
AI is much more benevolent, practical, useful, and already
seamlessly integrated into our daily lives.
The term artificial intelligence was coined back in 1956 and many consumers aren’t sold on the benefits. Perhaps the
today is described by the English Oxford Living Dictionary as reason lies less in AI’s ability to “think,” and more in its inability
“the theory and development of computer systems able to to “feel.”
perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such
as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, To determine what about AI causes concern and mistrust,
and translation between language.”1 Presently, AI powers Pegasystems conducted a survey of 6,000 consumers from
everything from personalization on websites to chatbots to North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Germany,
automated product tagging, but even with AI delivering the and France about their views on AI and empathy.
types of customized, relevant experiences people demand,

1
English Oxford Living Dictionary
3|AI and Empathy

Cynicism for companies,

strong distrust of AI
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of
another, or simply as “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.” But are
humans born with empathy or is it learned? Half of the audience surveyed
believes human beings are born with the capacity for empathy but must
learn or be taught it. That said, even with most respondents believing in
our capacity for empathy, 38% don’t believe humans are the
gold standard.

This lack of faith extends to how respondents feel about businesses.

Two-thirds (65%) of respondents don’t believe

companies have customers’ best interest at
heart, but 69% think organizations have a
moral obligation to do what's right for the
customer (beyond what's legally required).
These numbers aren’t surprising. In a supposed “customer-
centric” world, empathy is not a common corporate trait.
If you have an email address, you’ve probably been on
the receiving end of companies mercilessly spamming you
in an attempt to sell to you or sell you more. Often, those
communications have little to do with what customers need
or what they are interested in. Even companies investing in
more personalized experiences can still view their customers
as segments instead of individuals, which is hardly an empathetic
approach to customer engagement.
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If people believe a business doesn’t have their best interest at

heart, why would they trust their technology? Even with little
faith that organizations will put their needs first, the majority
of respondents had an even greater distrust of AI:

68% trust a human more than AI to decide on

bank loan approvals

69% say they would be more inclined to tell the

truth to a person rather than AI

40% agree that AI has the potential to improve

customer service and interactions

Perhaps some of this mistrust comes from customers not fully

understanding how AI makes decisions. It seems logical to
assume you could reason with a human regarding a decision
on a bank loan, hoping to tap into their sense of empathy,
versus a machine that has none. AI offers many opportunities
for businesses to be more understanding and empathetic
toward customers, but it’s up to these organizations to take
control of AI, guide it, and address their customers’ concerns.
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Concerns around
“man vs. machine”
Maybe science fiction’s portrayal of AI has influenced some
of the respondents, as 27% cited the rise of robots and
enslavement of humanity as a concern. But aside from
the fears of an impending robot uprising, AI is still a topic
that generates legitimate concern.

One of the most common fears is that AI will replace our

human workforce, and this was true for the respondents
as well.

In fact, 35% said they were concerned about

machines taking their jobs.

It’s not without merit, as AI was designed to perform intelligent

tasks like a human – only more efficiently. While AI is commonly
used to orchestrate processes that could be done by a person,
these sorts of tasks are generally extremely time-consuming
and tedious for employees to perform. For example, Google
Translate and Netflix recommendations are both driven by AI.
Can you imagine how many people it would take to translate
every language request that comes in through Google or to
analyze each Netflix user’s viewing habits and make relevant
recommendations?
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Another concern around AI is bias. 54% of respondents

believe it’s possible for AI to show bias in the way it
makes decisions. The same percentage felt that AI will
always make decisions based on the biases of the person who
created it. And 54% of respondents were skeptical about
machines’ ability to learn and adapt, despite science
that has demonstrated this. On the other hand, it's true
that AI often does have bias, from the data it collects and from
bias that exists in the modern world. AI has the ability to learn,
but it needs guardrails to eliminate things like bias. Businesses
using AI should work to pinpoint bias and adjust and improve
AI systems using additional testing, guidelines, and controls.
Perhaps the biggest concern was around AI’s inability to truly

replicate human interaction. About one-third (38%) of

respondents don’t believe AI could ever understand
their preferences as well as a human being.

Only 30% of respondents said they're

comfortable with a business using AI
to interact with them.

But as AI technology becomes more sophisticated, it might

not always be clear if the “person” you’re interacting with is
an actual human or machine.
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How to take control of AI with

empathy and transparency
Empathy is not about humans versus AI; it’s about using the best of what both
have to offer. The future of AI-based decisioning is a combination of AI insights
with human supplied ethical considerations. When many channels don't
feature human agents, AI is the key to powering customer engagement and
optimization across all channels. While only 9% of respondents said they
were very comfortable with businesses using AI to interact with
them, there’s no doubt people love self-service options when they’re
accurate and efficient.

AI can do the heavy lifting in terms decisioning. Decisioning combines

machine learning, mostly to predict customer behavior and rules,
which are supplied by humans. Both human and machine insights
determine the next best action for a customer by embedding the
AI-based decisioning engine inside an ethical framework.

Transparency is also key to helping customers better understand

how AI works. Organizations must employ transparent AI where
appropriate, which means their machines can explain exactly why a
decision was made. For example, when someone applies for credit
card and is denied, the exact reasons are readily available.

Empathy means nothing without action.

At Pega, we use our real-time, omni-channel AI capabilities to provide the largest

global brands with the ability to control their own AI for impact and empathy. We give
organizations the technology to switch between opaque AI and transparent AI, depending
on what is required, and the tools to build and enable more empathetic actions.
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For now, empathetic AI isn’t about teaching machines to feel but rather, using AI
and rules about ethics and empathy to determine the next best action to take
for a customer. AI can either make the decision on its own, based on the data it
collects and the rules that are in place, or it can recommend a course of action to a
human. Empathy is more than just delivering the right content or offer; 67% of the
audience doesn't believe relevant and valuable offers are examples of AI
demonstrating empathy. The next best action might be to make an offer, or
it might be to just say thanks. It might be to pause and listen to the customer first.
And it could even be to put all actions on hold, if that is what’s best for the customer.

At Pega, we aren’t claiming AI is sophisticated enough to understand complex

human emotions; it won’t cry when it watches the end of "Titanic." But our guidelines –
guidelines we’re opinionated about in our software – put ethical considerations on
top of machine learning that would most likely be viewed as empathetic decisions if
a human made them.

Only humans can control how empathetic business systems are.

Humans need to take responsibility for AI, building on its strengths and recognizing
and compensating for its weaknesses. The only way for businesses to change the
conversation and comfort level with AI is to take control of it, prove its value through
responsible applications, and direct its power toward improving outcomes. At least
until an AI passes the Turing test for real.
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About Pegasystems

We are Pegasystems, the leader in software for customer engagement and operational
excellence. Our adaptive, cloud-architected software – built on the unified Pega Platform™ –
empowers people to rapidly deploy and easily change applications to meet strategic business
needs. Over our 35-year history, we’ve delivered award-winning capabilities in CRM and digital
process automation (DPA), powered by advanced artificial intelligence and robotic automation,
to help the world’s leading brands achieve breakthrough business results.

For more information, please visit us at pega.com

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