{"title":"Empowering AI Companions for Enhanced Relationship Marketing","authors":"Rijul Chaturvedi, Sanjeev Verma, Vartika Srivastava","doi":"10.1177/00081256231215838","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Embedded with artificial empathy, artificial intelligence (AI) companions (ACs) can create, communicate, and deliver value to customers. This article analyzes current and emerging ACs in order to explore AI’s role in transforming customer journeys and establishing long-lasting customer relationships. It also identifies existing business challenges in developing user-AI companionship and offers a remedial strategy matrix. Purely functional or emotional capabilities lead to interest in the companion plummeting with time. The findings reveal the need to design holistic ACs with a hybrid of functional, emotional, and conversational capabilities to mitigate the uncanny valley problem.","PeriodicalId":9605,"journal":{"name":"California Management Review","volume":" 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"California Management Review","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256231215838","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Embedded with artificial empathy, artificial intelligence (AI) companions (ACs) can create, communicate, and deliver value to customers. This article analyzes current and emerging ACs in order to explore AI’s role in transforming customer journeys and establishing long-lasting customer relationships. It also identifies existing business challenges in developing user-AI companionship and offers a remedial strategy matrix. Purely functional or emotional capabilities lead to interest in the companion plummeting with time. The findings reveal the need to design holistic ACs with a hybrid of functional, emotional, and conversational capabilities to mitigate the uncanny valley problem.
期刊介绍:
California Management Review (CMR) serves as a vital link between academia and management practice, offering leading-edge research with practical applications. Edited at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, CMR covers a wide range of management topics, including innovation, strategy, sustainable practices, and human resources. CMR ranks among the top management journals globally, distributing articles through outlets like Harvard Business School Publishing and SAGE Publishing. Focused on bridging academia and practice, CMR ensures that all articles are based on rigorous academic research while providing actionable insights for managers. In addition to regular issues, CMR publishes special issues and sections on relevant topics, often guest-edited by leading faculty. Recent special issues have covered dynamic capabilities, city innovation, big data, and intellectual property management.