AI agents. Mylène Farmer said yes. Scarlett Johansson said no

Companies, dentists, and Cécile de France are rushing to adopt chatbots. Why?

In Dalloway, Clarissa Katsef, a writer suffering from writer's block, throws herself into the chatbot that gradually replaces her. She wants to encourage it to finish her book, despite the pain of a family tragedy. 
In Le Monde, an experienced investigative journalist, Bruna Basini, formerly of JDD, dissects the new passion of CIOs and sales departments.

In Grenoble, a small team, whose manager lives in Vitry, is currently making waves in France in the field of AI agents, competing with American publishers and their intensive marketing campaigns. Unlike its many competitors (Salesforce, Vocca.ai, Yampa.ai, Blue Bridge Group.AI, etc.), the company has not spent time raising money, but rather focusing on its first customers. Who are repaying the favor.

What explains this new passion for conversational agents, and what are they, anyway?

AI agents have taken over from Alexa and voice assistants
Just over half a dozen years ago, devices invaded our homes and offered to do everything for us, simply controlled by voice commands. AI agents are their heirs, robots that talk to us, understand what we say to them, and carry out the requested tasks and actions. Made efficient by AI, they are or can become incredibly effective and act almost like autonomous individuals.

This is clearly demonstrated by Dalloway.

In customer service, at a bank reception desk, or when making a dentist appointment, they are incredibly effective. They can call your contacts or prospects for you. 

This is what Volubile.ai agents installed in dental offices or at the reception desk of a town hall such as Meudon sur Seine are able to do.

AI agents are the drones of the customer and patient experience.
“Cheaper than an employee, capable of autonomy and personalization, AI agents are going to revolutionize businesses,” confirms Manuel Jacquinet, founder of ECTFF. They are fairly easy to install, become intelligent once trained, are responsive, and are within the reach of SMEs. The tricky part is training them to become more efficient and reduce response latency or enable them to handle different languages. For example, if your customers are construction contractors, like Habitat Presto, the agent must be able to understand Polish and Serbian accents. Or Tamil if you use an AI agent for recruitment.

In Ukraine, we have discovered that war is now partly fought with drones, that it can be won with more modest equipment, and that we must learn how to use it.

When it comes to customer experience and patient journeys, AI agents are the new drones.

Sylvie Ouziel, SIA Partners, Eliott Hoffenberg, new entrants
Every week, new start-ups are entering this niche market. For many of them, the money raised will be used to finalize the product.

For others, already boasting a large customer base, the focus is on industrialization or recruiting CSMs. 

In the film Dalloway, Mylène Farmer lent her voice to the AI agent who talks to the writer, played by Cécile de France, on a daily basis. The famous singer agreed. Scarlett Johansson did not when she discovered last year that OpenAI was starting to test the use of her voice to train an AI. That's the difference.

The editorial team at En Contact.