on February 10, 1996, a machine called Deep Blue defeated him in a game of chess was played in Philadelphia at the then-champion of the world, the almighty Gary Kasparov. The american, John McCarthy had coined the concept of Artificial Intelligence already in 1955, but the supercomputer of IBM achieved in only 24 hours an impact in the media much higher than forty years of congresses and scientific publications. The news of the defeat of Kasparov, who then astonished the world, maybe move to the smile with the developments that we know today. But it was the first universal example of a revolution that is already unanswerable.
By means of Artificial Intelligence, machines that emulate the functioning of the human mind, being able to learn, reason, and perfect their knowledge by means of a series of evolutionary algorithms. The utopia has vanished and already there are multiple practical applications of Artificial Intelligence in the world of work, medicine, trade, economy, mobility…
His appearance supposes a before and an after in the evolution of mankind. And as in the invention of electricity, penicillin, the printing press or the steam engine, the scientific discourse is insufficient to explain the impact on our lives will have the Artificial Intelligence, associated too often –and unfairly– to a capitalism that is destructive with touches of apocalyptic.
In the field of health, for example, come together ideal characteristics for the application of Artificial Intelligence, thanks to the enormous mass of information that can be collected over large volumes of the population. On this giant database with profiles, histories, clinical symptoms, evolution of illness and a long etcetera, they can develop systems of early detection of diseases and apply the most effective treatments.
But not for that reason gone will be the human factor. The doctor will continue to be the benchmark, since the communication and management of emotions, factors eminently human, are essential in this field and because the data are always interpretable and should also be well selected. The doctor, contrary to what many believe, will see strengthened his role with the artificial intelligence as a reference.
The world of virtual assistants is another good example of how the Artificial Intelligence operates in favor of the well-being and inclusion of people with disabilities. According to a study by Gartner, 30% of Internet searches in the next 2020 will be held without a screen or keyboard. What began as a cute and eye-catching addition in the smartphones of Apple has spread with the emergence of other attendees in the field of Amazon, Google and some other giant.
The financial sector is a great exponent of the penetration of this technology in favor of the client and of the efficiency of internal procedures. Thanks to the Artificial Intelligence, for example, the dealer can fine-tune their policies on cyber security and the fight against fraud and identity theft by detecting suspicious behavior based on certain patterns.
In this context, CaixaBank has been a pioneering entity in Spain to incorporate Artificial Intelligence in its portfolio of services, both for its employees as for its customers. As in the case of medicine, this technology provides a customized treatment to the client on the part of the human resources present in the branches.
In 2018, for example, the bank introduced a virtual assistant for their workers, based on IBM Watson, which has contributed substantially to the internal efficiency. It is a solution equivalent to a ‘Siri’, which has replaced to a call center (internal piling up to 500,000 calls per month) that is directed by the agents of the bank to ask questions, documentation, and other frequently asked questions. The result is a clear increase of the productivity.
The technology of facial recognition is another resulting from the Artificial Intelligence. Now up and running in several airports around the world and allows you to save a few tedious procedures, pass the security filter and expedite the shipment, decreasing the stress and anxiety associated with these long waits. CaixaBank was the first bank in the world to use this same technology of facial recognition so that their customers can draw money from its atms in some of its offices in Barcelona and Valencia. The software used valid up to 16,000 points of the figure of the face of the client, which ensures that identification is completely secure.
Another example of how the Artificial Intelligence allows you to optimize efforts is the management system of refunds of receipts are domiciled. The tool, present in 600 offices of CaixaBank, takes in 99% of cases the same decision that a manager is human to resolve the situation. With it, employees spend less time on routine tasks and focus their efforts in the personal attention of the client.
For their clients, Caixabank has also implemented solutions in Artificial Intelligence. It has two chatbots that are able to interact with users on any issue related to products and services of the entity. The virtual assistant company called Neo. Works with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, in the app of CaixaBank or on the website itself. According to the figures of the entity, more than a million customers have interacted with Neo, generating a total of two million conversations. Neo is able to answer more than 450 questions relating to information of business of the entity and provides a high level of trust in the answers. For its part, imaginBank, the mobile bank of this financial institution, it has another wizard similar called Gina.
