UBS and Commerzbank: The future of banking with AI avatars!

UBS and Commerzbank: The future of banking with AI avatars!

UBS recently announced that they are using AI-generated video avatars of their analysts. These avatars convey market assessments in the form of videos, which represents an innovative approach in the banking sector. Analysts can share the videos without having to appear on camera themselves. This raises the question of whether such avatars have been used in the banking sector before or whether this is a completely new development. A notable example of this is Commerzbank, which uses the video avatar “Ava” based on an actress, like finanzbusiness.de reported.

Commerzbank has launched a project to develop an AI banking avatar based on the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. The aim of this project is to improve customer experience through a mobile approach. The AI ​​banking avatar will act as a virtual assistant that interacts with customers in natural language. Customers have the opportunity to ask questions, request general information and receive personalized advice. The avatar will be aimed at the bank's private and small business customers and has an initial target group of 2.2 million active users of the banking app.

Technological backgrounds

The virtual assistant will leverage Microsoft Azure to ensure security, scalability and reliability. In addition, the avatar will integrate modern GPT models from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Services to enable engaging conversations. Another important aspect of the project is the inclusion of a new text-to-speech avatar service from Microsoft Azure that provides realistic digital avatars. Commerzbank is among the first banks to combine generative AI with avatar technology in a customer-focused application, as highlighted in a press release from the bank commerzbank.de.

The project is part of Commerzbank's digital strategy, which aims to improve customer satisfaction and simplify banking processes. Initial tests with customers have shown positive feedback on the innovative power of this solution. The project approach follows an agile, team-oriented methodology with regular customer involvement. The avatar's AI logic combines conventional AI with generative AI, with a particular focus on trustworthy and responsible AI and data security.

Outlook and expectations

Thomas Schaufler, board member for private and business customers, expressed his enthusiasm for the project and described it as a new way of banking. At the same time, Dr. Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz, Chief Operating Officer, described the project as an outstanding example of the use of generative AI and avatar technology. Ralph Haupter, President of Microsoft EMEA, highlighted that the project demonstrates an excellent way in which generative AI can be used for personalized customer experiences.