Bank of America's AI Assistant Erica Surpasses 3 Billion Client Interactions

Bank of America's AI assistant Erica has surpassed 3 billion client interactions since its launch in 2018, serving nearly 50 million users and averaging over 58 million interactions per month. Clients have spent over 18.7 million hours interacting with Erica, with over 98% finding the information they need. Erica has delivered over 1.7 billion proactive, personalized insights and has undergone over 75,000 updates to improve performance.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has announced that its AI-driven virtual financial assistant, Erica, has surpassed 3 billion client interactions since its launch in 2018. The assistant, which serves nearly 50 million users and averages over 58 million interactions per month, has become an integral part of the bank's digital offerings.

Erica has been particularly successful in providing personalized insights and assistance to clients. It has delivered over 1.7 billion proactive, personalized insights, including highlighting cash back deals, alerting clients to balance trends, and providing guidance on investment-related topics for Merrill clients. Clients have spent over 18.7 million hours interacting with Erica, with over 98% finding the information they need.

The AI assistant has undergone over 75,000 updates since its launch to improve performance. According to Nikki Katz, head of digital at Bank of America, the data science team has made over 50,000 updates to Erica's performance, adjusting and fine-tuning natural language understanding capabilities. This continuous improvement has helped Erica become a robust and reliable tool for clients.

Erica's success can be attributed to Bank of America's commitment to a "high tech, high touch" approach. The bank aims to find a balance between AI support and human support, ensuring that clients receive accurate information and are directed to the best path for resolution when necessary. This approach has led to high customer satisfaction, with the bank's mobile app, which includes Erica, being more satisfying than any other national bank app, according to a J.D. Power assessment.

The growth and adoption of Erica have been driven by its accuracy, speed, and usefulness. It has been able to overcome the general climate of consumer distrust of AI in financial services by providing fast, helpful information. Nearly all clients, 98%, find the information they need via Erica, and the average customer interaction with Erica is a mere 48 seconds.

Erica's success has also been driven by its design and ability to adapt to different user preferences. The bank has made design changes to Erica to increase comfort among older generations, who are less comfortable with chatbot interfaces. These changes have helped Erica become more widely used across generations.

Erica leans on deterministic AI rather than generative AI, which can hallucinate and provide inaccurate information. The AI is designed to understand the client's question and provide an answer that the bank is 100% comfortable with. This approach ensures that clients receive accurate and reliable information.

In conclusion, Bank of America's Erica has become a powerful and successful AI assistant, providing valuable assistance to clients and contributing to the bank's digital offerings. Its success can be attributed to continuous improvement, a "high tech, high touch" approach, and a focus on accuracy and reliability.

References:
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-bac-ai-assistant-185811521.html
[2] https://www.bankingdive.com/news/bank-of-america-erica-virtual-assistant-ai/758519/