Dive Brief:
- Lyft is working with Anthropic to deploy AI-powered tools to improve the rideshare experience for drivers and customers, the ride hailing company announced Thursday.
- Already, Lyft has incorporated Claude, Anthropic's generative AI assistant via Amazon Bedrock, into its customer-facing AI assistant and reduced the average customer service resolution time by 87%, Lyft said.
- Lyft’s use of Claude delivers “tangible benefits to their community today” and “creates a blueprint for how companies can successfully bring AI into their business,” Michael Gerstenhaber, VP of product management at Anthropic, said in a prepared statement.
Dive Insight:
Though many businesses are just starting to experiment with generative AI on the back end, some are ahead of the curve, bringing the technology directly to the consumer.
"Lyft’s partnership with Anthropic signals a shift away from other companies that only use AI for basic, task-level automation to one that prioritizes AI as a driver for CX,” Julie Geller, principal research director at InfoTech Research Group, said in an email. “I think this move will set a standard to what a polished customer experience looks like.”
Lyft is the latest in a string of companies to bring generative AI directly to the consumer. Klarna rolled out an Open AI-powered chatbot last winter; Amazon debuted Rufus, a generative AI shopping assistant, last February; and Walmart began testing its generative AI shopping assistant in June.
Uber, Lyft’s biggest competitor, announced a partnership with OpenAI in October to launch a generative AI chatbot to answer drivers’ questions about electric vehicles.
Generative AI assistants promise to tackle commonly asked questions and save contact center agents time.
For its part, Lyft says its customer care AI assistant provides fast responses for common issues and hands off issues to a human specialist when needed. The agent answers thousands of customer requests every day, the company said.
Lyft and Anthropic “have commitment to a full customer experience — they’re not just carving out a limited pilot, which shows real dedication,” Geller said.
The partnership extends beyond Lyft’s customer care AI assistant. Lyft will build Anthropic-powered solutions across the business and participate in research testing Anthropic’s latest technology. Anthropic will also train Lyft's engineers.
