AI and the Future of Customer Experience

AI’s Human Touch: Revolutionizing Customer Experience at Web Summit Lisbon 2025

At Web Summit Lisbon 2025, consultant Robert Schifreen opened a discussion on the future of customer experience with AI, emphasizing that customer satisfaction is paramount, not just back-end cost savings or efficiency. He highlighted that if customers reject AI interactions, the technology’s benefits will not be realized, setting the stage for a deeper dive into human-centric AI solutions.

Mr. Guillaume Laporte, Chief AI and Digital Officer at Foundever, a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) company managing global call centers, explained his role in embedding AI into human operations to enhance customer experience. He acknowledged that while AI will transform service delivery, a fundamental need for human connection and empathy will always persist for certain customer interactions.

Mr. Laporte detailed AI’s dual effectiveness: automating Level 1 customer service tasks such as password resets or booking cancellations, and significantly boosting human agent productivity. Through AI tools like speech-to-text, summarization, translation, and writing assistance, human agents can achieve a 20% to 50% increase in efficiency, handling more interactions daily.

Crucially, Mr. Laporte stressed the importance of setting clear customer expectations. He noted that a transparent approach, where AI identifies itself and outlines its role (e.g., gathering information before transferring to a human), leads to a much better experience. This strategy results in a low 5% customer drop-off rate, helping to build trust in AI-driven interactions.

Mr. Kamel Ouadi, Head of Global Brand for PLAUD.AI, introduced their human-centric AI technology, which captures audio and visual information, turning conversations into actionable intelligence. He asserted that voice is the optimal human interface, conveying emotions, clarity, trust, and context, and that PLAUD.AI’s devices provide clarity and save users 1 to 2 hours daily by eliminating the need for manual note-taking.

Mr. Ouadi elaborated on how PLAUD.AI creates a personal “memory layer of insights,” allowing users to query their own database of past conversations for specific information or connections they might otherwise forget. This capability extends beyond simple transcripts, offering structured thoughts and ideas that help professionals remain fully present during meetings and discussions.

He shared a compelling example of a client using PLAUD.AI to record a doctor’s explanation during a personal medical emergency, enabling them to review critical information later when less emotionally overwhelmed. This highlights the technology’s profound human-centric applications, benefiting individuals with memory challenges, the elderly, or those in stressful situations, extending its utility beyond professional productivity.

Addressing privacy, Mr. Ouadi affirmed PLAUD.AI’s commitment to data ownership and compliance with regulations like GDPR and SOPA, emphasizing that users control their data. Mr. Laporte, looking ahead, expressed a desire for reduced AI latency to enable seamless real-time translation and more realistic, human-like AI interactions, aiming for response times of 200-300 milliseconds.

Mr. Laporte observed that while disruptive industries like retail and e-commerce readily adopt AI, more regulated sectors such as banking, healthcare, and insurance remain cautious due to compliance concerns and fear of degrading customer experience. An audience poll conducted by Mr. Schifreen revealed a predominantly neutral to negative sentiment towards AI customer service bots, underscoring the ongoing challenge of building public trust and demonstrating AI’s true value.