ANZ reports digital assistant's first 100 days

ANZ New Zealand has announced it is extending the pilot of its digital assistant Jamie.

In her first 100 days, Jamie recorded more than 12,000 conversations with customers – of these queries, she was able to answer 60%. The most common question was how to open a bank account, which Jamie has been asked nearly 1200 times. She was also asked about her favourite movie 241 times, whether she likes turtles, what’s in her fridge, what sort of tea she likes and who her favourite New Zealand geologist is.

“Given the range of questions people have asked, Jamie has done brilliantly in her first 100 days,” ANZ digital and transformation head Liz Maguire said. “For the next part of the pilot, we’ll be making her more knowledgeable so she can answer even more questions – about banking and other things.”

Jamie was initially programmed to answer questions on the 30 most frequently searched-for topics on ANZ’s website. Now, she will be updated with new information based on customer questions and feedback and some Te Reo will be included in her vocabulary. The bank also hinted on additional digital assistants of other ethnicities to join Jamie in the future.

“The potential roles for Jamie are really exciting,” Maguire said. “I’d like to see her in our mobile banking app, goMoney, to help our customers do their banking, and for her to assist people with language or accessibility issues.”