Palona’s AI Agents: The Future of Customer Engagement?
Every company you interact with likely uses artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots at some level — usually to handle your customer service issue, answer questions about a product, or help guide you through an FAQ log. Palona AI wants to take that approach further: turning those chatbots into professional-grade AI sales agents who double as charming brand mascots.
How It Works
The startup, which officially launched Thursday, aims to give small businesses like pizza shops and wellness centers the power of consumer-facing human sales experts, which they likely can’t afford. Palona "onboards" or trains the agent using your business’ knowledge base, including employee manuals, company policies, and existing FAQs.
The goal is to create what the company calls a highly customized "AI character" that proactively engages with customers in the company’s voice, using its guidelines as personality traits. Available for web, iOS, and Android, Palona agents are built into a business’ backend, and customers can text, call, or chat with them 24/7.
Features and Benefits
Palona’s agents can remember customer information after an initial interaction — say, if you asked a camera retailer’s chatbot about pricing on Wednesday, but got distracted and couldn’t return to the conversation until Sunday. Agents develop customer profiles full of conversational tidbits, like the name or gender of the customer’s pet, that they can use in future interactions.
The company claims its base model, built using Llama and certain OpenAI large language models (LLMs), is trained on psychology and persuasion literature, similar to human sales experts.
Limitations
Personality training aside, are there simply some items only a human can sell? When I asked Palona’s founders about agents’ ability to sell products that are especially embodied or experiential — like bikes or cars — they didn’t exactly have a read. One of the company’s early customers is a bike shop; they cited the agent’s ability to direct consumers to its closest location or refer them to an expert in the shop. Ostensibly, it’s been successful.
EQ Claims
The tech industry is rife with AI agents that help employees do everything from write code to prep presentations. Salesforce released its own solution last fall, as did Microsoft, Asana, and countless other IT firms. But Palona claims that what sets its agents apart is their "unrivaled" emotional intelligence (EQ), which includes "humor" and "current-day texting etiquette".
During a demo with ZDNET, CTO and co-founder Tim Howes explained how the company fine-tuned available models using "an eight-point definition of what EQ is", as well as markers of human likeness and "delightfulness".
Conclusion
Palona’s AI agents are designed to create a customized "AI character" that proactively engages with customers in the company’s voice, using its guidelines as personality traits. The company claims its agents have a higher degree of EQ, human likeness, and persuasion, built into the model. While there may be limitations to what AI agents can accomplish, Palona’s approach may revolutionize the way we interact with businesses.
FAQs
Q: What is Palona?
A: Palona is a startup that uses AI to create professional-grade AI sales agents who double as charming brand mascots.
Q: How does it work?
A: Palona "onboards" or trains the agent using a business’ knowledge base, including employee manuals, company policies, and existing FAQs.
Q: What are the benefits?
A: Palona’s agents can remember customer information, develop customer profiles, and engage with customers proactively in the company’s voice.
Q: Are there any limitations?
A: While AI agents can handle many tasks, there may be some items only a human can sell.
Q: How does Palona claim its agents outperform other AI solutions?
A: Palona claims its base model is trained on psychology and persuasion literature, and has a higher degree of EQ, human likeness, and persuasion, built into the model.
