LOLC Technologies unveils Sri Lanka’s first LLM-based chatbot for banking, financial services
Daily FT: In a groundbreaking move for the banking and financial services industry in Sri Lanka, LOLC Technologies has launched an AI-driven chatbot powered by a Large Language Model (LLM).
This innovative development marks the first use of such cutting-edge technology in the local financial sector, setting a new benchmark for customer service and engagement.
The newly introduced chatbot leverages the latest advancements in artificial intelligence to deliver seamless and natural conversations with customers. Unlike traditional chatbots that rely on pre-programmed scripts or menu bases, these advanced chatbots use transformers, a deep learning architecture, to understand and respond to customers’ questions with exceptional context awareness.
Generative AI chatbots with LLM generate natural responses based on their vast knowledge base. They excel at semantic text search, identifying relevant information even when it is not explicitly mentioned. By integrating with cognitive search, these chatbots can draw from diverse knowledge bases, significantly enhancing the user experience. They continuously learn from interactions, allowing them to manage complex conversations with impressive fluency and accuracy.
The LLM-powered chatbot offers a variety of services to an end-user, including natural language queries, making interactions more intuitive and efficient. Beyond basic queries, this chatbot assists with more complex banking and financial inquiries, guiding customers through various services offered. Customers can also make service requests, receiving support without the wait times often associated with traditional customer service channels.
LOLC Technologies Chairman Conrad Dias highlighted the transformative potential of LLM and Generative AI: “We are proud to be the pioneers in Sri Lanka’s services sector to introduce a LLM-based chatbot. This cutting-edge technology enables us to provide highly personalised and efficient services, significantly improving customer engagement and satisfaction. As the banking and financial services landscape continues to evolve, LOLC Technologies is at the forefront, driving innovation and setting new industry standards.”
LOLC Technologies Deputy CEO Prasanna Siriwardena emphasised the technological foundation of the new chatbot: “Our AI chatbot leverages the latest OpenAI and Azure technologies, ensuring it operates at the highest level of efficiency and reliability. Through our strategic partnership with Microsoft and Yenasys, we have integrated state-of-the-art Generative AI solutions into our operations, making the chatbot a cutting-edge tool for customer service.”
Further, he stated that this innovation is the result of the sheer commitment of the AI team of LOLC Technologies. Continuous R&D, extensive testing and knowledge base creation has made this a success.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s target of becoming a regional hub and the ongoing economic expansion have opened up business/investment opportunities in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. The opportunities in these two sectors cover all key economic sectors including state, private and banking sectors. Since a strong banking sector is a prerequisite in any country on the path to becoming an emerging business hub, there’s a growing demand for the latest in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors to be applied to the banking sector. Given that the digitalization of each sector is quite different from the other, there’s a wide range of opportunities in the fields of ICT and digital infrastructure development covering each sector. With the steadily growing business potential in these sectors, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the business/investment opportunities in them.