The rise of human-centered AI: The chatbot that learned to speak Filipino

The rise of human-centered AI: The chatbot that learned to speak Filipino | Daily Tribune

Waiting days to hear back from customer service has become a frustrating reality for many Filipinos. Too often, customers are met with robotic chatbot replies, confusing answers, and endless loops with no real human support. Skyro believes digital customer care could be better. So the SEC-registered fintech company built Sky, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot designed to serve as the first line of customer support, responding to concerns within one minute, 24/7.

For Skyro’s Customer Care team, every single customer matters, and support should always feel easy, helpful, and reliable. That commitment continues to deliver results, with customer satisfaction remaining high at around 95%, while 16% of negative app store reviews improved after the team directly reached out to users to address their concerns.

Rather than simply automating replies, Skyro focused on how AI could improve both the speed and quality of customer service. For Jorge Brisuela, Skyro Head of Customer Care, the goal was to scale support more efficiently, while maintaining consistency, trust, and quality service.

“AI is not a solution, it’s an instrument. The chatbot experience will always reflect the quality of customer care behind it. For us, every interaction should feel friendly, clear, and seamless,” said Brisuela.

The approach reflects a larger change in customer behavior. While digital interactions have become more advanced, many chatbot experiences still feel cold, overly formal, or disconnected from how people naturally communicate, especially in the Philippines, where tone, warmth, and familiarity often shape customer trust.

Sky was built on the principle that customer support should feel as helpful, reliable, and natural as speaking with a human agent, while still delivering the speed and scalability of AI. Instead of relying on rigid scripts, it adapts to English, Taglish, and Tagalog, using a simple, empathetic, and familiar tone.

The system was designed to always keep humans in the loop. Whenever the situation requires it, especially for more sensitive cases, customers can seamlessly transfer to a live agent without restarting the conversation. The entire chat history is preserved, so customers never have to repeat themselves. Beyond answering questions, Sky can register requests, record Promise-to-Pay commitments, cancel applications and insurance services, and close credit contracts.

With over 200,000 in-app chats handled monthly and Skyro’s customer base projected to grow by around 250% this year, the AI chatbot has helped reduce support costs per customer by 66%.