Although we have the feeling that AI technology is a recent product, it has been present in our lives since the early part of the last century. From its conceptualization in 1935 by Allan Turing and the writing of the first AI-type program in 1951 by Christopher Strachey, up to today when it is already used in diagnosing a wide range of diseases, this technology has sparked interest and fear in equal measure.
But why are we discussing AI in a field such as Training & Development, which is characterized by deeply personal experiences, where we talk about human-to-human connection, and which falls under a much broader umbrella, called more than symbolically, "Human Resources"?
To answer this question, let's take a few examples from the sales and management areas.
We all know that in sales, a formalized sales process is one of the ingredients of success.
Likewise, we also know that the representatives of a large and extensive sales force should be aligned to the point of overlap regarding the essential elements of an interaction with a client. That phases such as investigating a sales opportunity or demonstrating capabilities must be carried out according to the same framework, regardless of whether the representative is a junior sales rep with 6 months of experience from Iasi or a senior sales rep in Oradea. Or that handling the famous sales objection, "it's expensive," should be done the same way, every time asking: "Expensive compared to what?"
If we set aside sales and move towards management, wouldn't we want feedback regarding a less productive behavior to always follow the same framework? Regardless of which department we encounter it in, regardless of who the manager giving the feedback is or the employee receiving it?
How can we ensure that these essential behaviors are used uniformly, by all employees, in their day-to-day work?
The most advanced solution to this challenge is called Pitchboy, and it's a conversation simulator that offers immersive experiences designed to support professional training.
Just as athletes train through various exercises to build muscle memory, the Pitchboy simulator helps employees develop those essential automatic responses they should use during a conversation.
Just as a flight simulator helps pilots train under real conditions, Pitchboy is a flight simulator for a wide variety of roles within companies, with the mission of turning knowledge into skills by replicating real conversations from day-to-day work.
How does it do this?! With the help of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence.
Virtual reality helps us simulate the environment in which the conversation takes place (office, store) while with the help of AI we build the character the user will interact with, under conditions very close to reality. Once developed, the role play can be played from anywhere, on any device and as many times as needed.
For simulations, audio formats can be developed for phone conversations (conversations with Customers in Telesales) or video scenarios. These can be 2D (for a role play taking place at a desk) or 360° for role plays that take place in complex environments (triage rooms in a hospital's emergency department). We can also use deep fake video technology to create the customer's avatar and the environment in which the interaction takes place.
The conversation with the person in training is carried out based on a predefined process, a decision tree, and the recognition of certain keywords that the human participant must use.
The role play will be recorded, which means the user can review it and understand how they put their knowledge into practice. After each role play, Pitchboy will give the user feedback and keep the score obtained in the database. This way, the development of a skill over the course of several role plays can be easily tracked by both the user and the manager.
Another benefit of using the simulator is that it will always unfold the same way, so employees will be able to learn exactly the same essential routines within a process (sales, giving feedback, etc.).
Pitchboy can test knowledge through simple quizzes or can develop role plays in which the user is guided during the interaction so that they continue to learn and practice at the same time. Finally, we can even create simulations under difficult conditions, with no safety net, (just like in a video game) so that the skills are developed so thoroughly that a later interaction with a real customer feels very easy to the employee.
In conclusion, AI technology can be used to augment human potential, serving as support for HR practitioners.