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"The role of AI customer service is changing. In the past, the focus was on quickly handling customer inquiries and reducing costs. Now, it remembers customer preferences and recommends tailored products to boost corporate revenue. However, as AI takes on more roles and acts autonomously, companies must also establish corresponding responsibilities and safety mechanisms."
Charles Sturd, CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Sendbird, stated this in a recent video interview with MoneyToday's startup-specialized media platform 'Unicorn Factory.' Sturd led the marketing divisions at global customer experience (CX) platform company Qualtrics and AI-based marketing platform company QuanticMind before joining Sendbird in June last year. He is a figure who has led marketing strategy formulation and brand expansion at global technology companies for over 20 years.
Sendbird is a global B2B (business-to-business) software company that provides enterprise chat, voice, and video communication solutions. It has secured major clients including Reddit, DoorDash, and AirAsia. Recently, it has been expanding its business by leading with 'Delight AI,' a solution where AI responds to customer inquiries and supports everything from product recommendations to purchases. This solution has been adopted by Norwegian airline North Atlantic Airlines and domestic furniture company Hanssem.
Sturd CMO cited 'Conversational Memory' as the core technology of Delight AI. It is a technology that remembers customers' past purchase history, consultation content, and preferences, utilizing them in subsequent consultations. Through this, customers do not need to repeatedly explain their previous inquiry details or their situation every time they consult.
Sturd CMO emphasized that AI consulting can perform roles beyond simple problem-solving, such as inducing customer purchases. He explained, "Even if a customer inquires for problem resolution, we look into whether there are other products that can provide additional value," adding, "For customers who are shopping, we may recommend products more suitable than what they are looking for."
It is also possible for AI to proactively send messages based on the customer's past usage history. This involves sending messages timed with the customer's birthday or periods of long-term non-use of the brand, or encouraging membership program enrollment. Sturd CMO said, "These moments become new touchpoints that can strengthen relationships with customers."
A representative case is domestic furniture company Hanssem. Hanssem adopted Sendbird's 'Delight AI' to support customer product exploration and purchases on its online shopping mall. According to the company, the purchase conversion rates for curtains and blinds among customers who used the AI consulting service were 5.65 times and 2.88 times higher, respectively, compared to a control group that did not use the service. The total number of orders in the curtain and blind category also increased by 33.3% compared to the baseline from the two weeks prior to the solution's adoption.
"80% of Korean Consumers Satisfied if AI Remembers Past Conversations"
Consumer preferences for personalized AI consulting were also confirmed in a survey. In the '2026 Delight AI Index' survey conducted by Sendbird in March last month through research panel company Sago targeting 500 Korean adults, 80% of respondents answered that their satisfaction would increase if AI remembered past conversation content, eliminating the need to repeatedly explain the same information.
However, concerns about personal information protection were also significant. 93% of Korean respondents expressed concern about how personal information is collected, utilized, and stored in AI customer service systems. As AI utilizes customers' purchase history and consultation content, control over data access scope and utilization methods becomes important.
Sturd CMO emphasized, "Consumers must be able to understand how their data is being used," adding, "Transparency regarding data processing methods and access rights is becoming increasingly important."
Sendbird utilizes personalization for AI consulting by obtaining access permissions to customer relationship management (CRM) systems or data platforms managed by client companies. Sturd CMO explained, "In most cases, the data provided to the AI memory system is directly controlled by the client company," adding, "The client company's own policies regarding data access rights and storage locations are additionally applied to Sendbird's security control framework."
Sendbird has also built its own control system, 'Trust OS,' to prevent malfunctions of AI agents. This method involves limiting the scope of topics AI can answer and actions it can perform, and verifying safety before introducing new features.
Sturd CMO explained, "The biggest risk in current AI systems is hallucinations or performing unintended actions," adding, "While this may only damage a company's reputation, it can lead to more serious consequences if it affects financial transactions or important decision-making."
He emphasized, "We have invested significant research and development resources into managing and controlling the behavior of AI agents to prevent such issues from occurring."
Sturd CMO predicted that in the medium to long term, an era of 'Agent-to-Agent (A2A)' transactions will open, where consumers' personal AI agents directly communicate with corporate AI agents to perform product purchases and reservations.
He stated, "In the future, instead of consumers directly visiting company websites, personal AI agents will increasingly access companies to perform necessary tasks," adding, "In this process, verifying whether an AI agent accessing a company has been delegated authority for purchases etc. by an actual consumer, or if it is a program accessing with malicious intent, will become an important security challenge."
[MoneyToday startup media platform Unicorn Factory]
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