Exploring Determinants That Influence the Usage Intention of AI-Based Customer Services in the UAE

The Notion of AI

Xu et al. (2020) defined AI in customer service as the following: A technology-enabled system for analyzing real-time service situations using data obtained from digital and/or physical sources in order to deliver individualized recommendations, alternatives, and answers to customers’ inquiries or issues, even those that are extremely complicated. We used client and service staff literature (Lu et al., 2020) to demonstrate the many sorts of AI-enabled service encounters and their interactions with the financial and banking sectors (Foroughi et al., 2019). Ostrom et al. (2019) classified AI-enabled service interactions into three types: AI supported, AI augmented, and AI performed. In AI-supported service interactions, frontline staff execute a service and directly interact with consumers while relying on AI for assistance behind the scenes with decision-making or modification of the service experience in real time, such as the use of AI by physicians to diagnose illnesses. In AI-augmented service interactions, AI interacts directly with consumers or is employed by frontline staff aiding them (rather than behind the scenes), enhancing the typical contact with enhanced information or novel services, such as real-time language translation. In AI-performed service interactions, AI replaces employees by interacting directly with customers to co-create and provide the full-service experience; examples include chatbots used in retail and banking, as well as virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant.