Best Buy is planning to use a generative AI-powered virtual assistant to provide customers with a “self-service option,” the company said earlier this week. The new tool will available when customers shop on the company’s website and app, or when they call into the customer support line. Best Buy is working with Google and Accenture on the tech endeavor and plans to deploy it this summer.
The AI-powered software is intended to solve product issues, adjust delivery orders and schedules, and manage software subscriptions. “The AI tool will really narrow in on a customer’s specific needs,” a company spokesperson told Quartz. If a customer wants to set up their laptop or change when their washer and dryer will be delivered, AI will be able to do that, the spokesperson added.
In comparison, because some customers prefer getting on the phone with an agent, the company is also planning to launch a new-suite of AI-powered tools to assist employees during calls. Those will transcribe calls and provide feedback in order to detect whether a customer’s issue was resolved. They’ll be used to monitor whether certain products are defective and should be replaced.
In response to reports that a large chunk of Geek Squad workers were laid off, the company said that customer service agents are not Geek Squad members. “They are two different things,” the spokesperson said. “The specific agents that were impacted were agents that were doing home theater equipment installations.”
In February, Best Buy’s CEO Corie Barry said the company would close stores and lay off employees as it aimed to better position its workforce with ongoing changes in consumer spending. As part of the restructuring initiative, the company said it would also devote resources to artificial intelligence.
Whether the company is making plans to replace Geek Squad with AI, the company said,“there is never going to be a world where AI can go into a person’s home and install equipment.”