MTN Group Launches Africa’s First Artificial Intelligence Service for Mobile Money
MTN Group is not relenting in its quest to fully utilize the power of technology to innovate. The telecommunication company has announced the launch of Africa’s first Mobile Money (MoMo) artificial intelligence service or “chatbot”. In a statement from MTN Group, the chatbot went live in Ivory Coast in May and will be rolled out across MTN’s MoMo footprint in the next few months.
What The New MTN Chatbot Looks Like
- Like the Chinese WeChat bots integrated into WeChat app, that can set medical appointments, call a taxi, send money to friends, check in for a flight and many many other, MTN’s artificial intelligence mobile money “assistant” enables customers to engage with MTN’s MoMo services, including payments, on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and via SMS.
- The chatbot is an artificial intelligence guide that assists users to navigate MTN’s MoMo services and provide other useful information. This innovation leverages messaging and artificial intelligence to drive customer engagement and enhance their MTN MoMo experience.
- The service will also be included over time, in MTN’s own newly released advanced instant messaging service “Ayoba”.
Commenting on the launch, MTN Group President and CEO, Rob Shuter said:
“We are passionate about bringing the power of our mobile money solutions to more than 60 million customers across Africa over the next few years. Harnessing modern technologies like artificial intelligence can improve in scale, how MTN interacts with customers, enabling them to reach us anytime and anywhere, through a variety of channels including social networks and messaging applications. We can also harness the power of artificial intelligence to provide our customers with the right answers to their questions at the right time.”
“We are committed to improving financial inclusion with a range of solutions aimed at addressing the needs of various market segments. While MTN has made great strides in these areas, we will continue working to deliver our vision for MTN to become one of the largest Fintech players across our footprint.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.