World’s first Urdu based ‘Siri-styled’ voice-recognition AI bot launched

KARACHI: The underlying theme of this year’s Smart CX conference, held in Karachi, was the use of innovative technology to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. The conference was organised by C-Square, a local Customer Experience (CX) company, in collaboration with Genesys, a global CX powerhouse.

One of the star attractions of the conference was the speak enabled AI Urdu voice-recognition bot. The bot, named RUBA — Real Urdu Bot Automation, has been designed by C-Square in collaboration with Genesys.

RUBA is a Siri-styled virtual voice-enabled personal assistant. The bot is able to interact with the user in Urdu and respond in Urdu while carrying simple tasks from checking your bank account balance to sending a text message on your behalf.

“RUBA was made in Urdu because of the local population in Pakistan, and for the large labour force working in the Middle-East,” said C-Square CEO Ahsan Mashkoor, before demonstrating the bot’s capabilities in front of the audience.

Ahsan Mashkoor, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of C-Square, started off the conference with a welcome address and reminisced the company’s early days.

“It’s been a long journey, a ten-year journey. We started off with a two-man company back in 2009. From a two-man company to global deployments in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and a lot of amazing customers in Pakistan, the journey has been amazing,” he maintained.

Federal Minister for the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Shehryar Khan Afridi while addressing the audience said that Smart CX goes to show the world that Pakistan has the brains and the required technology to compete with the world in the race led by AI innovation and that Pakistan will no longer be sidelined or undermined.

He added that RUBA is an excellent initiative to promote Urdu amongst the masses. “It is important for us to learn English, it is good that we learn Chinese but it is imperative that we make Urdu our mainstream language once again in any sort of interaction.”

Javaid Iqbal, CEO of Transform-X, talked about “Customer in the Age of Intelligence” and focused his session on how companies aren’t ready for the upcoming generation of customers. “And as I look at customer journeys, the way they’re built right now for organisations, I think we have no idea how to innovate for the next generation that’s about to hit us.”

Iqbal said the popular fad is that millennials are going to run everything. “What we need to factor in is the next generation, which is called Generation Alpha. That’s the first generation that will be born into Artificial Intelligence (AI).”

Panelists at the conference included Business Technology Faysal Bank Limited head Ahsan Jamal and Group Head Digital, Technology and Strategic Planning Jubilee Life Insurance Kashif Naqvi. The chief guest at the conference was Member National Assembly Shehryar Afridi.

The event was attended by technology experts from Turkey, Eygpt, Greece and other countries.

2 COMMENTS

  1. As long as the lessons of Huawei & Cambridge Analytica are learnt by Pak security conscious people.
    Do you want a spy in your bed or the toilet?

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