Openstream.ai offers claims chatbot for the future

Customer service chatbots that use stock responses are a familiar punching bag for consumers, but can a chatbot be created that understands the human subtleties of the user?

Openstream.ai, an AI avatar company serving insurance and other industries, has one that does. The company launched in 2014 with a first version of “Eva”, which it then relaunched in 2020 as part of a new suite of enabling technologies. Eva can now interact via video chat with policyholders for their claims.

Building and improving Eva has three elements, according to Raj Tumuluri, founder, CEO and chief technology officer of Openstream.ai. First is gaining knowledge about a claim. Second is policyholder interaction management, which involves reasoning in context and managing the context of a conversation. Third is showing empathy and commitment to the insured’s circumstances, behavior and tone.

Tumuluri came from a background as an inventor and standards writer for multimodal and speech systems. Openstream.ai serves both the property and casualty and health insurance spaces.

Some of the algorithms developed by Openstream.ai can evaluate someone appearing on the video chat to assess their mental health, including depression and anxiety, and personality. To some extent, the technology can detect these traits from audio alone.

Tumuluri demonstrated the technology with footage of a sample interaction with Eva, in which the claimant’s car was broken into and a mobile phone was stolen. Eva began by saying, “I’m sorry it happened. I’d like to help you with that,” before asking if the phone was visible in the car.

When the plaintiff asked, “Why is it important?” Eva replied, “I need to determine if your policy covers the theft of your cell phone,” to which the claimant replied that the phone was in the glove box, so the loss was covered.

Eva and plaintiffs, Tumuluri said, “observe each other and have a common context, and therefore are able to better engage based on what the user is saying. Many things are conveyed through verbal and non-verbal behavior.”

Openstream.ai tracks the nature of claim events and the nature of the interaction between Eva and claimants, so if they’re discussing a loss, the tone doesn’t suddenly shift from empathetic to “zing in voice saying ‘I can help you with your claim’.” processing'”, Tumuluri said. “You want to have that grim attitude throughout, because the context of the interaction is not very pleasant, so you have to be neutral or show some emotional empathy or involvement, and that’s something that sticks.”

In addition to improving interaction with insurance applicants, Openstream.ai also helps support insurers by providing data relevant to their business, according to Tumuluri.

“Most of (their) time is actually spent gathering insurance information,” he said. “What they should be looking for are anomalies, insurance loss rate, losses and other things.”

Openstream.ai technology has agents for these items and the efficiency of other agents. “We’re able to put together or prepare a document for them that they can take a quick look at and then decide what their price should be,” Tumuluri said, adding that it can also be translated into language instructions natural for underwriters or insurance agents as to what actions to take. take in terms of coverage.