“Zavarovalnica Triglav actively invests in innovation, and projects such as AI TRIA are an important part of this. The first realistic AI virtual assistant demonstrates our company's commitment to continuous improvement and development, which has recently also focused on the introduction of artificial intelligence for process automation,” said Gregor Kovačič, Executive Director of the Digital and Customer Experience Division at Zavarovalnica Triglav, in the opening section of the event at the Triglav Lab centre.
The one-of-a-kind event at the Triglav Lab research and demonstration centre of Zavarovalnica Triglav kicked off with the host Nik Škrlec and AI TRIA – a 3D avatar and the first realistic virtual assistant that talks to users in Slovenian in real time – engaging in a postcode memorisation duel. This was followed by a debate in which AI also took part, joining the other guests at the round table. The discussion revolved around the current state of the relationship between humans and AI. The panellists focused on the potential benefits that this collaboration brings and also touched on the future, more specifically on the forecast of what the development of AI will look like in one year, five years and more.
“We live in a time of constant change. A time of exponential growth in AI capabilities and tool use. What doesn't exist today will exist tomorrow. Many of today's skills will no longer be needed tomorrow,” said Luka Tomat, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Academic Unit for Business Informatics and Logistics at the University of Ljubljana’s School of Economics and Business, continuing: “According to the Gartner Hype Cycle, we are past the peak of the euphoria stage with regard to generative AI, but very much at the beginning of its systemic application in processes. Processes will need to be changed to integrate AI tools into an organisation's information systems.”
More than two years ago, Zavarovalnica Triglav implemented a virtual assistant, a chatbot called TRIA. This was the insurance company’s approach to automating the process of answering frequently asked questions from customers and enabling website users to quickly access information about Triglav's services and products. Last year, Triglav also started developing a 3D avatar, i.e. a virtual assistant called AI TRIA, which, based on advanced technologies (such as ChatGPT, Azure Open AI cognitive services and Kinect for motion detection), talks to users in Slovenian in real time via a voice interface.
The event participants were also able to try interacting with AI TRIA themselves, including the host Nik Škrlec: “Today I enjoyed a special challenge. This was my first time moderating a round table where a software solution with a large language model like TRIA was present. This was a lot of fun for me, because no interaction with TRIA is the same as the previous one, and because TRIA is very adept in its domain. TRIA is a skilled insurance assistant, but I was surprised that it was also able to respond to different questions and that it joined our round table with confidence."
Tomaž Valjavec, Azure GTM Lead, CEMA (Central Europe, Middle East and Africa), Microsoft, also spoke about the innovation as demonstrated by TRIA: “Zavarovalnica Triglav’s 3D avatar TRIA definitely represents a new level of innovation, the likes of which has not been seen in Slovenia before. It can stand alongside Europe's most innovative projects. Microsoft customers are innovating in many areas, for example a bank in Poland has introduced a personal banking assistant that understands customer transactions and suggests what steps to take next. This is all in the form of a chatbot, but AI TRIA is definitely superior. It also has the great advantage of working perfectly in Slovenian, which definitely added to the complexity of the project."
Gregor Kovačič, Executive Director of the Digital and Customer Experience Division at Zavarovalnica Triglav, confirmed at the event that the current capabilities of AI TRIA are only part of Triglav Group's long-term strategy. “We are aware that the development of such tools requires continuous technical and content upgrades. Thus, when upgrading the chatbot on the Triglav.si website, we plan to add new functionalities such as the provision of services, integration with other platforms and upgrading algorithms for a better understanding of natural language. We also want to expand the database of questions and answers that TRIA offers to users when they are looking for information about insurance services, as well as other topics,” said Kovačič, adding: “The development of the 3D avatar TRIA, which took an active part at the round table today, is an experiment that allows us to test and develop individual solutions for production more quickly.”
TRIA, the 3D virtual assistant, is available for customers and other visitors to talk to or test at the Triglav Lab centre at Dunajska 20 in Ljubljana.
