Salesforce previews Einstein-powered service agent

Salesforce has taken the covers off a new Einstein-powered service agent, which it describes as autonomous, meaning the chatbot can take actions without the involvement of a human being.

Einstein is the customer relationship management (CRM) software provider’s AI engine that powers several of its offerings, such as the Einstein 1 platform and the Einstein Copilot.

The new “autonomous” Einstein Service Agent, which is currently in preview and is part of the Service Cloud, can be set up using the Einstein 1 platform, akin to creating a new copilot by choosing which large language model (LLM) to underpin it with, said Ryan Nichols, chief product officer of Salesforce’s Service Cloud.

In order to create an Einstein Service Agent customized for an enterprise, its developers need to access the Einstein 1 platform, start creating a new copilot by giving its specific name and purpose, and then expose it to service topics, Nichols explained, adding that once the service topics are mapped and a LLM is selected, developers can assign knowledge-based actions to the agent.

These knowledge-based actions, according to the company, make the agent autonomous or allow the agent or chatbot to take actions without having a human in the loop, differentiating it from regular programmed chatbots or service agents.

One of the main differences between an older predictive chatbot and the Einstein Service Agent is its ability to understand intent because of its LLM base, said Keith Kirkpatrick, research director at The Futurum Group.

The integration of generative AI or LLMs also enhances summarization, back-and-forth communication, context, and intent recognition, in turn leading to significantly improved customer interactions, according to Siddhartha Sharad, director at technology consulting firm West Monroe.

However, Nichols also pointed out that the Service Agent uses the same brain effectively as Einstein Copilot and hence there is no differentiation between the two other than developers adding actions as part of the agent’s workflow.

Neither new nor unique

According to analysts, the Einstein Service Agent is neither new nor unique.

“Similar to its claim to have the ‘world’s first generative AI in CRM’ with Einstein GPT, Salesforce’s announcement of its new ’autonomous’ chatbot for Service Cloud is not the first of its kind. Competitors, including Zendesk and ServiceNow, have both already introduced similar autonomous capabilities that can resolve customer inquiries without human agent involvement,” said Cameron Marsh, senior analyst at Nucleus Research.

Marsh also pointed out that the usage and scaling of autonomous bots continue to be a concern for enterprises, especially in terms of cost, despite the technology’s potential to reduce headcount and provide faster customer service.

“We have seen many enterprises have success by opting to add workflow steps to existing chatbots instead, achieving similar results while avoiding non-transparent usage-based costs,” Marsh said, adding that trust is another key factor that hinders enterprises from using autonomous service agents.

Einstein Service Agent, which is expected to be made generally available later this year, can be rolled out across self-service portals and messaging channels, like WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, Facebook Messenger, and SMS, the company said.

It can also hand off a conversation to a human when an inquiry is off-topic or falls outside of Einstein Service Agent’s scope, it added.

The hand-off is made possible due to the company’s use of sentiment analysis, Kirkpatrick explained, adding the agent also understands text, images, video, and audio input.