In 1950, Alan Turing, already famous for helping to crack the German Enigma code during World War II, devised the Turing test to define intelligence in machines. Could a computer, Turing asked, fool a human into thinking he was interacting with another person, or imitate human responses so well that it would be impossible for a person to tell the difference? If the machine could, Turing proposed, it could be considered intelligent. Turing’s thought experiment spawned scores of science-fiction tales, such as the 2015 hit movie Ex Machina. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous algorithms are not only passing the Turing test every day but, more importantly, are making and saving money for the businesses that deploy them.
How AI Is Streamlining Marketing and Sales
Customers are benefiting in turn.
June 12, 2017
Summary.
Many companies are now investing in AI-powered sales and customer service assistants to help identify potential customers without hiring an expensive army of employees to comb through leads. What’s more, AI bots are now intelligent enough to elicit information from customers as a human being would, rather than serving as an analytics tool that simply finds patterns in the data it collects, like a machine. Here’s how three companies employed AI in their sales and marketing departments to help interact with customers, answer questions, resolve complaints, comb through sales leads, and increase customer satisfaction — all while freeing up staff to focus on other innovations.
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Learn how to communicate with your customers—strategically.
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New!
HBR Learning
Marketing Essentials Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Marketing Essentials. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Learn how to communicate with your customers—strategically.