Meet Gen-E, your AI-powered office assistant, tour guide

AI TALK Arvin Yason and Mike Lao present the latest tech innovations of Accenture. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Did you know that a bot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can recognize a person’s profile and even rate one’s outfit?

Global professional services company Accenture recently developed Gen-E (pronounced as Jenny), a software built on a large language model (LLM), a kind of AI algorithm backing popular chatbot ChatGPT.  LLM has the ability to generate information and other content based on big data sets.

One Wednesday morning last month, the company invited the media at their office in Taguig to introduce recent developments on the AI front. Gen-E, who lives in a giant screen panel near the entrance of the office and speaks with a female voice, is immediately showcased. One by one, reporters are asked to stand against a white wall beside the screen for a quick scan—and the resulting photo is analyzed by Gen-E. Intrigued by what the AI platform would know about them, the journalists comply.

A few moments later, the bot delivers in a North American English accent its findings. Gen-E, who looks like your typical black-and-white futuristic robot, is gliding playfully across the screen as she makes her comments.

“Dressed in that smart casual attire, you’re blending the lines between professional and comfortable. Quite the savvy choice,” Gen-E says to one of the reporters.

“It is practical for moving around the hub yet polished enough for any surprise interview. Just the right balance for innovation and storytelling in the Philippines.”

The AI bot expresses the flattery with nonchalance. Gen-E then provides this reporter’s brief professional background as well.

This exercise has shown how far technology has come, introducing new innovation from the curious minds and testing the boundaries of what is possible. For Accenture, exploring the AI field has become an imperative to improve its operations and provide better solutions for its clients.

BEYOND CHAT Gen-E, at your service —TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD

Innovation-first mindset

Mike Lao, data and AI lead at Accenture Technology Philippines, says that Accenture always finds new ways to harness the potential of generative AI—one of the recent buzzwords in tech—to stay ahead in the game.

“Our idea when we’re doing it was [to think] more of how do we really showcase generative AI in a different way outside of the usual chat windows,” he adds.

Arvin Yason, company innovation lead, says that a team he fondly calls as Gen-E’s foster parents worked for a few weeks to bring the AI bot to life as a side project. This is their way of encouraging employees to collaborate and explore new technology solutions.

The vision is for Gen-E to serve as the virtual tour guide, delighting the guests visiting their office. To make this happen, a crucial process is the feeding of company information into the AI bot.

Yason explains that training Gen-E is like onboarding a new Accenture employee. “We prompt her: Imagine you are a member of the innovation team of Accenture. She adopts that point of view always,” he says.

Testing her knowledge, Yason asks Gen-E to summarize Accenture’s Technology Vision for 2024, which outlines the outlook of the company this year. “Okay, sure,” Gen-E says promptly.

“Accenture’s Technology Vision for 2024 highlights two main realities: technology driving business reinvention and the emergence of more human technology. It explores how technology is adapting to humans, enabling simultaneous activities across physical and digital spaces …” Gen-E says a few moments later without pausing.

“It is actually a great summary,” Yason commends.

Gen-E is still in its early stages, having been in existence only for nearly two months as of this writing. Yason says they continue to develop the AI bot so it can also pop out in other screens across the office.

Expanding network

Gen-E is just one of the many AI innovations that Accenture is pursuing. It is also establishing hubs where AI tools can be further developed to aid clients who are keen on taking digitalization to the next level. The global company is setting up generative AI studios across Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines and Latin America. These studios are dedicated to identifying AI tools that can benefit several industries, such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, public sector, renewable energy, manufacturing, chemical and mining.

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“We’re doing this primarily because we want to make sure our clients have a space and we’re able to help them in their Gen AI reinvention journey. We also want to make sure we are ahead of the curve,” Mike Lao says.

Human-centric

The studios, which are part of the company’s $3-billion investment in data and AI, are in response to its recent survey revealing that 77 percent of C-suite officials in the Asia-Pacific want to spend more on AI initiatives.

“Clients today are ready to move beyond proof of concepts and into production to tackle more complex business problems across their value chain. They also recognize that generative AI introduces new, unique risks that need consideration and mitigation,” says Leo Framil, CEO of Accenture Growth Markets.

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Accenture stresses that the path for AI is producing human-like and intuitive platforms that help enterprises and individuals in simplifying daily tasks.

For example, the company sees AI assisting in data analysis that can “facilitate human-like reasoning and even mimic creativity.” Accenture says the technology can summarize and personalize big data sets quickly instead of humans sifting through numerous documents.

Another example is the field of AI-powered wearables, which can track physical activity and analyze health metrics. Accenture explains such tools allow people to better understand the way they live, which can then lead to making better decisions about their lifestyle.

“Human-centered technologies like generative AI are poised to unleash human potential and deliver a staggering array of business and societal benefits, but only if we take a balanced, ‘human by design’ approach that ensures these technologies are used fairly and responsibly,” Accenture chief technology and innovation officer Paul Daugherty says.