The first airline in the world to effectively implement a Generative AI virtual agent, named “Maharaja,” powered by Azure OpenAI service is Air India, the top international airline in India. Since its trial launch in March 2023, it has satisfactorily addressed over half a million client issues, and as of right now, it handles over 6,000 requests every day in four languages.

The Maharaja AI Agent of Air India handles a wide range of consumer inquiries pertaining to 1,300 topics, including flight status, baggage allotment, packing limitations, check-in, frequent flyer benefits, airport lounge access, itinerary modifications, refunds, and more.

In order to accommodate visitors from all over the world, Maharaja is fluent in Hindi, English, French, and German. More than 80% of the more than 6,000 queries we receive every day are effectively addressed in a matter of seconds. Approximately 15% of customer inquiries nowadays ask for further help; Maharaja detects this automatically and arranges a smooth transfer to Air India’s contact center representatives.

Air India’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, stated: “We are committed to giving our valued guests the best possible service and experience across channels.” Additionally, we wish to adapt quickly to their shifting tastes. We are witnessing a clear shift in visitor preferences toward using chat conversations rather than multiple web page navigation to obtain the information and support they require quickly and directly, following the introduction of Large Language Model powered Generative AI capabilities.

In order to give our customers a positive and productive experience, we have included a number of patent-pending improvements into our AI agent Maharaja, combining the most recent advancements in generative AI with conventional machine learning approaches. In the upcoming months, a great deal more innovations will be released from the pipeline.

We are happy to witness Air India’s effective implementation of Maharaja, their AI-powered agent, and their utilization of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to deliver a tailored and pertinent client experience. According to Marco Casalaina, Vice President, AI Platform, Microsoft, “We think that this is the start of a new era in customer service, and we look forward to seeing more organizations use the power of Generative AI and our AI-optimized Azure cloud to provide a seamless and efficient customer experience.”

Air India uses ChatGPT to analyze even certain complex queries it might not be able to answer right away in order to improve the customer experience in subsequent contacts, making the most of generative AI technology. Because of this, the newest customer care channel from Air India has been able to learn and develop over time, becoming more fluent in spoken English. In order to deliver an engaging customer experience, Air India has implemented a strategy that combines several conventional machine learning approaches with generative artificial intelligence. Additionally, Air India has put protections in place to stop damaging or biased language from getting into its conversational AI system.

Generative AI systems comprehend the intent and context of a user’s question and produce a natural and coherent response, in contrast to rule-based or keyword-based chatbots. This lessens the need for human involvement while improving user experience and satisfaction. Additionally, it facilitates the automation of tedious and repeated processes like reservation, cancellation, confirmation, etc., freeing up agent time for more intricate and valuable exchanges.

Air India intends to introduce several advanced features in the upcoming months, powered by technology that are pending patents. This features a unique user interface that modifies how users communicate with AI agents using a mix of graphical and textual interactions, which may expedite user interactions even further. A few of these inventions have been under development for longer than two years. In order to advance the technology to the level of a dependable personal assistant for all air travel requirements, Air India also intends to improve the current AI agent with data-driven deep personalization capabilities. The AI agent will be able to book reservations with ease and provide travel inspiration. There are plans to support additional Indian languages as well.

Source- Travel daily