A brand new AI startup pivoted from automating appointment bookings for hair salons to constructing an AI voice assistant that handles non-emergency requires 911 name facilities — and it simply raised a $14 million Sequence A for its new give attention to Wednesday.
Max Keenan, the founding father of Y Combinator-backed startup Aurelian, determined to pivot the corporate in response to a name from one among his purchasers, studies TechCrunch. The shopper, a hair salon proprietor, had an issue with a faculty’s carpool lane blocking the salon’s parking zone. When she referred to as town’s non-emergency line in regards to the matter, she was placed on maintain for 45 minutes, an exceedingly lengthy wait time.
The salon proprietor advised Keenan in regards to the expertise, which prompted him to research how non-emergency name facilities function. He found that they’re typically staffed by the identical personnel who reply 911 emergency calls and are usually understaffed. Emergency dispatch is among the many prime 10 industries with the very best turnover charges.
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Keenan determined to alter Aurelian’s focus from automating hair salon bookings to dealing with non-emergency 911 calls, together with these for noise complaints, stolen wallets, and parking violations. The startup’s AI expertise is aware of when to detect life-threatening emergencies and ship these calls on to human dispatchers.
Aurelian launched its AI assistant in Could 2024 and has since deployed it at 911 name facilities in Snohomish County, Washington, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, along with a few dozen different areas.
In response to Aurelian’s web site, the AI assistant has saved every 911 dispatcher three hours each day on non-emergency calls, and automatic 74% of calls with out dispatcher intervention.
“We predict that these telecommunicators ought to have an opportunity of taking a break,” Keenan advised TechCrunch.
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Aurelian’s AI is dealing with hundreds of dwell calls a day, placing it a step forward of the competitors, together with startups like Hyper and Ready, which haven’t dealt with dwell calls but, per TechCrunch.
AI expertise can be changing into part of life in customer support calls. For instance, CVS Well being, which operates over 9,000 areas and 1,000 walk-in clinics throughout the U.S., launched a brand new AI-based name system final 12 months. Tilak Mandadi, CVS Well being’s chief digital, information, analytics, and expertise officer, advised The Wall Road Journal in June 2024 that if somebody calls the pharmacy, AI will reply if it might probably reply the query. If the AI cannot deal with the inquiry, clients might be directed to a human agent.
Different firms throughout industries have taken an identical method. Fintech startup Klarna, well-known for its “purchase now, pay later” cost choices, stated in February 2024 that its customer support AI chatbot was doing the equal work of 700 human full-time workers. Klarna additionally used an AI clone of its CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, to summarize earnings in Could, highlighting the attain of AI expertise throughout enterprise operations.
A brand new AI startup pivoted from automating appointment bookings for hair salons to constructing an AI voice assistant that handles non-emergency requires 911 name facilities — and it simply raised a $14 million Sequence A for its new give attention to Wednesday.
Max Keenan, the founding father of Y Combinator-backed startup Aurelian, determined to pivot the corporate in response to a name from one among his purchasers, studies TechCrunch. The shopper, a hair salon proprietor, had an issue with a faculty’s carpool lane blocking the salon’s parking zone. When she referred to as town’s non-emergency line in regards to the matter, she was placed on maintain for 45 minutes, an exceedingly lengthy wait time.
The salon proprietor advised Keenan in regards to the expertise, which prompted him to research how non-emergency name facilities function. He found that they’re typically staffed by the identical personnel who reply 911 emergency calls and are usually understaffed. Emergency dispatch is among the many prime 10 industries with the very best turnover charges.
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