By SGN | 7 Aug 2024
After witnessing her mother struggle with online customer service, Jennifer Zhang, CEO & founder of WIZ.AI, was inspired to develop Talkbots that cater to non-native English speakers.
We’re all familiar with chatbots, but what about voice bots like Talkbot? Many people often use these terms interchangeably, assuming they mean the same thing. However, Jennifer challenges this notion.
“Chatbots primarily rely on text-based interactions, whereas Talkbots focus on voice recognition and communication,” Jennifer explains.
Unlike chatbots, which are text-driven, Talkbots facilitate voice communication, fostering richer and more engaging interactions as customers can hear a voice during interactions rather than just see words being typed out on a screen.
“By focusing on ‘Talkbots’ instead of ‘chatbots,’ we underscore our commitment to enhancing digital interactions with warmth and responsiveness,” she says.
From the backseat to taking the wheel
After majoring in film at Keio University and Zhejiang University, Jennifer earned a Master of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.
“I’ve always had a passion for learning and storytelling,” Jennifer explains. “Even though my career path didn’t end up directly aligning with these fields, the mindset of creativity and problem-solving I developed has stayed with me.”
While studying in the US, Jennifer also worked as a columnist for an entrepreneur magazine where she covered entrepreneurship and investment news and interviewed notable figures like Mark Zuckerberg and actress-businesswoman Jessica Alba.
“These experiences sparked my interest in entrepreneurship and innovation,” Jennifer reflects. “Seeing so many brilliant ideas and passionate founders inspired me to move beyond being a mere observer.”
Despite her growing interest in entrepreneurship, Jennifer didn’t immediately jump into launching her own startup.
Instead, she spent nearly three years in venture capital, gaining invaluable experience on both sides of the Pacific as Managing Partner of GCC Capital in Beijing and General Partner of Cybernaut Zfounder Ventures.
However, Jennifer wasn’t satisfied with the passive nature of venture capital. “In venture capital, you’re more of a passenger in the backseat,” Jennifer explains. “I eventually came to realise that I wanted to take the wheel as a driver and be more proactive.”
Founding a startup in Singapore
In early 2019, Jennifer co-founded WIZ.AI with two partners to enhance human interactions and design advanced voice interfaces – and she decided to establish it in Singapore.
“As a melting pot of cultures, with four official languages — English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil — Singapore provided a rich backdrop for developing a language-focused Talkbot,” she explains.
Beyond business, Jennifer values Singapore for its diverse environment, enriched by a blend of traditions and communities. “The cultural inclusiveness here makes it easy to feel at home, and the vibrant food scene offers delicious options from around the world,” she shares.
The Lion City also stands out as a preferred base over its Southeast Asian neighbours due to robust support from local enterprises and the government.
“We’ve received strong support from local businesses in key sectors like banking, telecommunications, and e-commerce who are eager to embrace innovation and are willing to trial our new products,” Jennifer shares.
Similarly, government initiatives supporting talent acquisition, company development, and participation in programmes like the IMDA Accreditation Programme, have proven invaluable for startup founders like Jennifer.
“They organise seminars, facilitate engagements with C-suite executives, and offer opportunities to serve enterprises like Seamoney and PLDT once certain standards are met,” she shares.
“In short, being based in Singapore truly levels the playing field, allowing startups like ours to compete with multinational corporations on an equal footing.”
Creating a Talkbot from scratch
Jennifer also recognised a significant market gap in Southeast Asia for voice recognition technologies across languages such as Malay, Thai, and Vietnamese.
“We recognised the need for truly human-like AI that can communicate in Southeast Asian languages, dialects, and accents, which aren’t considered mainstream in the market,” she says.
“Being based in Singapore gives us easy access to language training models and allows us to expand seamlessly across the region to countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.”
In true startup fashion, WIZ.AI started with just one engineer and launched without a physical office, distinguishing themselves from other AI platforms by their strong emphasis on data-driven, results-oriented practices.
“As the first company to build our own data platform, we focus on multi-modality data tailored to industry needs,” Jennifer shares.
Initially, they worked on proving their approach and perfecting their English AI library.
“Our technology was built using local data, tailored for specific niche markets rather than standard languages,” she explains. “By continuously re-annotating data, we ensured our AI could understand a wide range of linguistic nuances.”
Starting with a small team of just three people, WIZ.AI has rapidly grown to almost 300 employees and established international offices to support the operations of the 17 countries in which they do business.
Not always a smooth conversation
Analysing and incorporating the babel of tongues in Southeast Asia was not an easy feat. “Southeast Asia is incredibly diverse, with over 630 million people speaking more than 1,000 languages and dialects, each with unique local accents,” she explains.
“This complexity makes developing AI that can understand these nuances a difficult task that requires extensive data gathering, specialised model development, and constant fine-tuning to ensure it communicates effectively.”
Market readiness posed another initial challenge. “During our early testing stage, we encountered users hanging up on our Talkbots,” Jennifer shares. “We had to engage in extensive trial and error to understand and fix these issues.”
Nevertheless, these experiences ultimately proved to be valuable takeaways that helped Jennifer refine WIZ.AI’s approach and improve their technology for better performance in real-world scenarios.
Redefining customer service
Many businesses faced significant challenges during the pandemic, with operations halted or even shut down. For Jennifer and WIZ.AI, this posed as an opening to redefine what customer service means for businesses.
“When the pandemic struck, it exposed the weaknesses in traditional customer service as countries closed their borders and enforced social distancing measures,” Jennifer explains. “This paved the way for us to step in and make a meaningful impact.”
In 2020, WIZ.AI initiated partnerships with major banks, leading hospitals, e-commerce platforms, insurance companies, and major telecommunications providers across the region, providing essential support.
“For instance, we enhanced customer satisfaction among our enterprise banking clients by managing reminders, appointments, bill notifications, and financial updates through our Talkbots,” Jennifer explains. “This ensured accessible, human-like, and personalised customer service round-the-clock.”
With more successful deployments, WIZ.AI’s Talkbots quickly evolved, significantly boosting both its capability and capacity. “We experienced a remarkable 200% growth during the pandemic in 2020, and this growth hasn’t slowed down.” Jennifer reveals.
Today, WIZ.AI has expanded its operations to the US, Latin America, and the Middle East. “We’ve followed our clients’ success from Southeast Asia into new regions, overcoming initial challenges of proving our concept and adapting to diverse markets.” she elaborates.
What’s next in AI
“It’s been incredibly rewarding to build a product from scratch and pioneer advancements in voice AI,” Jennifer reflects. “From watching early team members grow into country managers to new markets expansions, our journey has been extremely fulfilling.”
Currently, Jennifer is working on steering WIZ.AI towards advancing with general AI to create smart Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions and explore new languages and accents in the Latin American, Middle Eastern, and other emerging markets for business operations.
“Our goal is to lead in general AI across high-potential sectors like BPO and emerging markets to meet the increasing demands of customers and businesses,” she says.
And WIZ.AI isn’t growing alone; Singapore’s supportive ecosystem is evolving and scaling up alongside it.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in total investments,” Jennifer remarks. “One noteworthy government initiative is Singapore’s National AI Strategy (NAIS), which provides substantial funding and incentives to foster innovation.”
Community events hosted by organisations like Singapore Global Network also contribute to the vibrant startup scene.
“We recently participated in Founders Forum Asia 2024, where our co-founder Jianfeng Lu had the pleasure of meeting Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat,” Jennifer shares. “We were honoured when he highlighted the government’s commitment to AI research and development and even gave WIZ.AI a special mention in his speech.”
Looking ahead, WIZ.AI anticipates heightened competition and a stronger focus on advancing general AI and enhancing customer engagement. “As we continue to evolve, ensuring data security, accuracy, and practical applications remains crucial,” Jennifer emphasises.
“Our goal is to pioneer transformative technology for enterprises, enhancing both customer engagement and operational efficiency.”
Interested in working in Singapore or starting a business here?
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Meet Jennifer
Jennifer is the co-founder and CEO of WIZ.AI, a fast-growing startup deploying cutting edge Conversational Voice Artificial Intelligence technology into enterprises throughout Southeast Asia.
Connect with her here.
