Air India has achieved a global milestone by becoming the world’s first airline to deploy a Generative AI virtual agent named ‘Maharaja,’ powered by Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. Launched in the testing phase in March 2023, Maharaja has demonstrated remarkable performance, answering over half a million customer queries and currently handling more than 6,000 queries per day in four languages: Hindi, English, French, and German. The virtual agent addresses queries across 1,300 areas, including flight status, baggage allowances, packing restrictions, check-in procedures, frequent flyer awards, airport lounge access, flight changes, and refunds.
Maharaja boasts an impressive response rate, successfully answering over 80% of the 6,000 daily questions in seconds. For the remaining 15% that require additional assistance, the virtual agent recognizes the need and transfers the query to Air India’s contact center agents. Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Air India, emphasized the commitment to delivering superior service and adapting to changing guest preferences. The introduction of Large Language Model-driven Generative AI capabilities reflects a shift in customer preferences toward efficient chat interactions for quick and direct information retrieval.
This AI-powered chatbot reduces reliance on human intervention for routine queries, streamlining processes like booking, cancellation, and confirmation. Air India aims to leverage this technology to automate mundane tasks, allowing human agents to focus on more complex and value-added interactions. The airline has implemented a comprehensive strategy combining various traditional machine learning techniques with Generative AI, ensuring safeguards against biased or harmful language in the conversational AI system. Marco Casalaina, Vice President, AI Platform, Microsoft, commended Air India’s successful deployment of Maharaja, emphasizing the role of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in providing a personalized and relevant customer experience. He anticipates this marks the beginning of a new era in customer service, leveraging the power of Generative AI and AI-optimized Azure cloud for seamless and efficient customer interactions.
