Hello, this is Yoshioka from Converging Technologies Laboratory of Fujitsu. We conduct research and development by integrating Fujitsu's AI technology and behavioral science, psychology, and more. Today, we are pleased to introduce our newly launched the AI Tool for Experiencing Customer Aggression, which supports the acquisition of response skills to customer harassment through interactions with AI avatar.
Efforts to Address Customer Harassment
In recent years, customer harassment has become a serious social issue. In September 2023, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare added mental disorders caused by customer harassment to the criteria for workers' compensation recognition. Additionally, in October 2024, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly passed the nation's first ordinance to prevent customer harassment, reflecting the strengthening of measures against it by both national and local governments. Companies and organizations are also required to take measures to protect their employees.
In response, Fujitsu have developed the AI Tool for Experiencing Customer Aggression that combines social psychology with our digital technologies. Users, such as call center employees, can experience scenarios involving complaints and customer harassment through interactions with AI that simulates virtual harassing customers. During this process, the AI tool measures the user's vital signs. After the experience, the tool observes the history of the responses and changes in vital signs to provide interactive advice and inquiries from the AI avatar on appropriate response methods that are less likely to lead to harassment. The AI avatar identifies growth points tailored to the individual user, considering factors such as different stress responses, and encourages behavioral change.
Structure of the AI Tool for Experiencing Customer Aggression
Let's take a closer look at the structure of the AI Tool for Experiencing Customer Aggression. It is divided into two main phases. The first is the experiencing phase, where users can simulate responses that include customer harassment. The second is the feedback phase, where users reflect on their experiences and clarify their growth points. Each phase is explained below.
In the experience phase, users can interact in real-time with virtual harassing customers. Here, the AI, which has integrated common conversation patterns in customer harassment using insights from social psychology, recreates the harassment scene. Users can engage with AI that realistically replicates everything from attack methods to voice tones, allowing them to simulate customer harassment in various industries and business types (see the left side of the diagram below). Additionally, during the experience, vital signs are measured non-invasively using millimeter-wave sensors developed by Fujitsu (see the right side of the diagram below). Since customer harassment experiences have a heavy psychological burden, so we need to pay close attention even if it is a simulated experience. Therefore, by grasping the state of stress from the measured vital data and controlling the scenario of the interaction with the virtual harassing customer so as not to cause excessive stress, we realize a simulated experience that reduces the burden on the participant.
In the feedback phase, the AI avatar provides advice to improve response skills based on the analysis of the interactions and vital signs obtained during the experience phase, using expert knowledge. According to social psychology, there are various types of attacks in customer harassment, each requiring different appropriate responses. We use our own analytical methods based on these findings to analyze whether the appropriate response was taken for the person who experienced the incident, or what needs to be improved. The AI avatar understands what specific responses are desirable from the analysis results and provides advice while engaging with the user. Through interactions with the AI avatar, users gain new insights that they can apply to actual customer interactions.
In conclusion
The AI Tool for Experiencing Customer Aggression introduced in this article was also showcased at Fujitsu Technology Strategy Briefing held on December 12. This experiential AI tool is a technology with various potential applications, aiming to contribute to the realization of a society where people can live with peace of mind.
