“Would you prefer to see the orangutans or the white tigers first?” asks the female avatar, beaming out of a big screen mounted on wheels. If you only have a few hours to spare when visiting the Singapore Zoo, Mandy the concierge robot can help you design an instant zoo itinerary.

Mandy is one of the Autonomous Mobile Robots being trialled by the Mandai Wildlife Group. She can help you with directions, provide fun facts about the zoo’s animals, or simply lead you to where you want to go. If dark clouds gather, she will pull live weather data to suggest a wet weather plan instead.

Her intelligence is powered by

IBM’s data and artificial intelligence (AI) platform known as watsonx

IBM’s cutting edge Generative AI solution delivers the responsive and flexible customer experience that Mandai Wildlife Group needs. IBM data scientist Ang Ai Kiar says: “We uniquely leveraged our Generative AI capabilities to set us apart, showcasing how Mandy can create novel responses on the spot, rather than being limited to pre-programmed answers.

A Gen AI-powered concierge may seem straightforward to implement, but turning AI ambitions into working solutions is a real challenge for most enterprises.

Large language models (LLMs) may have taken the world by storm, but they are not always a good fit for business. For instance, they might come with high costs, security concerns and limited customisation options for specific business needs.

Ms Catherine Lian, general manager and technology leader, IBM ASEAN, says that smaller, industry-tailored AI models can offer greater benefits for businesses: “Many organisations are realising that large, general-purpose AI models require substantial computing resources, making it a challenge to scale their use affordably.”