Beyond the Search Box to the Transaction Box... KB Kookmin Bank's "KB AI" Lets Users Inquire and Transfer by Voice
IT DAILY ·
✦ AI Summary
KB Kookmin Bank said it has launched "KB AI," a conversational financial service based on generative AI, and introduced it in KB Star Banking.
KB AI understands customers' everyday expressions to link inquiry and transfer functions, and connects the intent behind questions with actual financial functions.
KB Kookmin Bank said it expanded multilingual support for foreign customers from 11 to 16 languages, and explained that KB AI is operated with encryption on an internal system.
The role of AI in banking apps is expanding from guiding users through products and menus to actually carrying out financial transactions.
As an example of this trend, KB Kookmin Bank announced on the 17th that it had launched "KB AI," a conversational financial service based on generative AI, and said it has introduced the service in KB Star Banking. KB AI is a service that understands customers' everyday expressions and links inquiry and transfer functions in KB Star Banking.
According to KB Kookmin Bank, the key feature of KB AI is that it goes beyond answering questions and connects the intent behind a question with actual financial functions. For example, if a customer asks for last month's check card usage history, the request leads to a card transaction history inquiry, and if the customer asks to send KRW 100,000 in allowance to their son, the transfer service is executed.
Traditional banking apps were designed so customers had to understand the menu structure in order to use them. Customers had to directly navigate inquiry, transfer, and product items. In contrast, KB AI has shifted from a menu-centered to a goal-centered approach. When customers enter their everyday language expressions, KB AI searches for the function that matches their intent.
This change is powered by natural language-based integrated search. KB AI analyzes the meaning and context of the sentence entered by the customer. Based on that, it sets menus, financial products, and FAQ within KB Star Banking as the search scope and presents related information all at once.
Traditional keyword search had limitations. To access a service, users had to enter the exact menu name, and financial terms also had to be entered precisely. The conditions for getting the desired result were strict. By contrast, KB AI allows discrepancies between customer expressions and banking terminology.
KB AI works by analyzing the intent of the entire sentence. As a result, it presents related functions. A notable feature is that search, inquiry, and transfer functions are not separated into different chat windows.
Customers do not need to select the AI function in advance. They also do not need to move between screens. They simply enter what they want into a single chat window. KB AI aims to go beyond a search-type chatbot and execute financial transactions.
This service is distinct from simply adding a generative AI counseling window inside a banking app. That is because it enables various menus and functions within the app to be called up through an AI chat window, allowing KB AI to serve as a new access point for financial services.
If the service takes hold, it could reduce the burden of having to remember a complicated menu structure. It could also ease the inconvenience of having to go through multiple steps to find transaction functions.
However, AI that carries out financial transactions requires higher accuracy and safety than general information guidance. It must accurately interpret the transaction target and amount from everyday expressions, and it needs a process to clearly confirm the customer's intention before final execution. These interpretation and confirmation steps are expected to determine the service's reliability.
Meanwhile, KB Kookmin Bank is strengthening multilingual services for foreign customers. The number of supported languages has expanded from 11 to 16. In June, KB Kookmin Bank applied real-time AI translation to offer the "KB Kookmin Certificate" issuance service in multiple languages, and it also applied translation features to the "KB Star Banking membership registration" process, which connects account opening with certificate issuance.
KB Kookmin Bank said it expanded the number of supported languages for multilingual menus from 11 to 16 in order to reduce inconvenience in financial use for foreign customers. It said the expansion is intended to ease language barriers in the account opening and certificate issuance process for foreign customers unfamiliar with financial terminology.
KB Kookmin Bank said KB AI is operated on an internal bank system separated from external networks to protect financial information and personal information. It also said encryption is applied throughout the information transmission and reception process, and that the security framework is applied at the same level as existing financial transactions.
A KB Kookmin Bank official said the company hopes the service will help improve customers' convenience in using financial services. The official added that the bank plans to continue combining AI technology with various financial services to deliver new financial experiences.
Source: IT DAILY · Lee Jae-young
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241671
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Source: IT DAILY
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