Denmark’s Royal Unibrew adds AI ‘colleagues’ to human team

They have names, faces and email addresses, but the five new colleagues at Denmark’s Royal Unibrew only exist in the virtual realm, which the brewer hails as a milestone to unleash the full potential of its staff.

- CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT

“What we as humans are good at is our creativity, our empathy, our knowledge of our customers,” marketing director Michala Svane told AFP.

Ms Svane said that working together with their digital colleagues, their human employees “get help for more routine-based work and finding information”.

With the help of Danish company Manifold AI, she has augmented her team with five AI “colleagues”: brand specialist KondiKai; market analyst Athena; Prometheus, who gathers all sales data; Moller, a sommelier specialising in pairing food and beer; and trade specialist Ella.

Initially, the assistants operated without names, but the five “colleagues” now all have a backstory, can swap outfits, and interact daily with other employees.

The company has made photos of the “colleagues” — three men and two women, all attractive and fit — and human employees interact with them via chats and emails.

“When we put a picture on the AI agent, the use and the engagement went up times four,” Ms Svane said.