Dubai: In a bid to make banking more convenient, a UAE-based bank is introducing an artificial intelligence (AI) robot that will engage customers by telling them about the products and services. The first humanoid robot, Pepper, will make his appearance at the bank’s marketing and promotional events in the UAE as well as at select Emirates NBD branches in the near future.

“Pepper will interact with customers to understand visitation needs and present products and services alternatives in an engaging manner, assisted by the bank’s staff. While Pepper will not engage on core banking functions, as the world of artificial intelligence and robots evolves,” said the bank.

Vikram Krishna, Head of Group Marketing and Customer Experience at Emirates NBD, said: “The AI robot Pepper will continue to engage with these technologies to make banking simpler and more convenient. We are extremely excited to introduce Pepper to our customers in the UAE. A truly remarkable innovation, Pepper brings in a fun, interactive element to the Emirate’s NBD banking experience.”

Emirates NBD expects it to be popular with not just our younger generation of customers but also those who are interested in interacting with an intelligent humanoid robot. Developed by Softbank Robotics, Pepper is the first humanoid robot capable of recognizing the principal human emotions and adapting his behavior to the mood of his interlocutor.

Emirates NBD has more than 220 branches and the Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and representative offices in India, China and Indonesia.

Source: PTI