AI-driven customer engagement is set to reshape industries across Saudi Arabia. In this exclusive conversation, Beerud Sheth, Co-Founder and CEO of conversational AI tool Gupshup, shares his thoughts on how conversational AI will redefine personalization, cultural relevance, and long-term customer relationships in the region.
1. As digital adoption grows in Saudi Arabia, how have you seen AI reshaping customer expectations in industries that have traditionally relied on personal interactions?
AI is redefining customer experience, ushering in a transformative era of instant, personalized, and context-aware interactions that are as empathetic as they are efficient. Spanning the entire customer journey—from discovery to support—AI empowers brands to automate routine interactions, freeing human agents to focus on high-value, complex engagements that require a personal touch.
Today’s customers demand seamless, always-available support without sacrificing the human element. In banking, for instance, AI is a catalyst for digital transformation, automating processes like loan eligibility checks, EMI collections, and customer care. By enabling secure, instantaneous financial transactions and delivering personalized advisory services, AI aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, advancing the nation’s shift toward a cashless economy.
Retailers are harnessing AI to curate hyper-personalized recommendations, enhance customer interactions, and optimize supply chains, ensuring a frictionless shopping experience. Similarly, the travel and tourism sector—integral to Saudi Arabia’s diversification strategy—is leveraging AI to streamline booking processes, provide real-time updates, and design customized itineraries for domestic and international travelers.
Across these industries, AI is not merely improving customer engagement but driving innovation, operational efficiency, and economic growth. As Saudi Arabia positions itself as a global leader in adopting advanced technologies, AI serves as a strategic enabler, delivering not only exceptional customer experiences but also supporting the broader vision of a digitally empowered and economically diversified future.
2. In a market as diverse as Saudi Arabia, how does localization influence the effectiveness of AI solutions? Could you share how this has been applied in some of your projects involving bilingual and culturally tailored customer interactions?
Localization is a cornerstone of effective AI solutions, especially in a diverse and culturally rich market like Saudi Arabia, where language preferences, cultural nuances, and customer expectations vary significantly. To create impactful customer experiences, AI systems must seamlessly adapt to these unique factors. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, bilingual support in Arabic and English is indispensable. Customers often gravitate toward Arabic for traditional or personal interactions but may prefer English in technical or professional contexts.
At Gupshup, we design AI Agents like PETROMINit! with deep localization at their core. Leveraging advanced natural language understanding, our AI agents can process dialectal variations and culturally specific expressions, ensuring interactions feel natural, respectful, and contextually appropriate. The success of PETROMINit! underscores this approach, with strong early engagement metrics revealing that customers connect more readily with AI agents that reflect their linguistic and cultural identity.
Cultural tailoring further amplifies AI's effectiveness. This includes respecting levels of formality, using regionally resonant greetings, and accounting for local contexts—such as religious considerations—that influence customer behavior and preferences. These elements foster trust, enhance satisfaction, and position AI as a true enabler of authentic engagement, rather than just a technological intermediary.
Beyond Saudi Arabia, Gupshup’s AI agents have achieved global impact. Portuguese-speaking bots assist Brazilian customers of a leading fashion brand with personalized product recommendations for occasions like Mother’s Day. Similarly, our generative AI-powered chatbots operate fluently across diverse geographies and languages, including Bahasa in Indonesia, Spanish in Mexico, and Hindi in India. These implementations demonstrate the power of culturally intelligent AI to transform customer engagement, delivering experiences that resonate deeply and meaningfully across the world.
3. Which industries in Saudi Arabia are leading in the adoption of conversational AI, and what contributes to their success?
In our observation, the banking and financial services sector has been a frontrunner, leveraging conversational AI to provide secure, 24/7 customer support, personalized financial advice, and seamless digital transactions. Their success can be attributed to robust regulatory frameworks, a tech-savvy customer base, and a strong push toward a cashless economy.
The retail sector is also making significant strides, with conversational AI being used for personalized shopping experiences, inventory management, and customer engagement across digital and in-store channels. This growth is supported by the booming e-commerce market and a shift towards omnichannel strategies.
Healthcare is another sector rapidly adopting conversational AI to enhance patient engagement through virtual consultations, appointment scheduling, and medication reminders. The focus on improving healthcare accessibility and efficiency as part of the Vision 2030 framework has driven this adoption.
The success of conversational AI in these industries stems from a combination of government support, a young and tech-savvy population, and a clear understanding of how AI can address specific challenges and elevate the customer experience.
4. In what ways do you see conversational AI reshaping consumer behavior in Saudi Arabia, particularly in industries where customer interactions are often reactive, like automotive services?
A key impact is that Conversational AI is shifting brand and customer interactions from reactive to proactive across various industries. Traditionally, customers would reach out only when an issue arose, such as a vehicle breakdown or service need. With conversational AI, interactions are becoming more dynamic, almost like having a conversation with a friend or an expert. AI agents like PETROMINit! anticipate customer needs, offer timely reminders for maintenance, and provide instant access to support, reducing the friction often associated with service interactions.
This proactive engagement builds trust and loyalty, as customers feel supported at every step of their journey. Moreover, conversational AI empowers customers by providing them with immediate answers, tailored solutions, and seamless access to services through familiar platforms like WhatsApp. This convenience encourages frequent and meaningful interactions, leading to better-informed decisions and increased satisfaction.
The ease of communication offered by AI agents is also driving a preference for digital channels over traditional ones, creating a more digitally engaged customer base. In industries like automotive services, this is translating into higher service center visits, better compliance with maintenance schedules, and a stronger connection between brands and their customers.
5. What are some of the most exciting CX-oriented trends you’ve seen emerge recently in Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of digital transformation, and several exciting CX trends are shaping the landscape. A standout trend is the rise of conversational AI, where intelligent virtual assistants are revolutionizing customer engagement. From banking to automotive services, AI-powered solutions provide real-time, personalized support and seamless omnichannel experiences, streamlining complex customer interactions.
Another transformative trend is the integration of predictive analytics into the customer journey. By anticipating customer needs, businesses deliver proactive, tailored solutions that enhance satisfaction and loyalty. Bilingual and culturally adaptive strategies have also gained prominence. Given Saudi Arabia’s dual-language environment, companies are prioritizing solutions that cater to both, Arabic and English speakers while respecting cultural nuances, and fostering more inclusive and resonant interactions.
Immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are making waves in retail and real estate, offering interactive and engaging experiences that captivate customers.
We also see sustainability emerging as a key CX trend. Many companies are aligning their customer engagement strategies with environmentally conscious practices, such as promoting electric vehicles in the automotive sector or offering eco-friendly product options in retail. These trends reflect a broader shift toward creating meaningful, innovative, and future-ready customer experiences in Saudi Arabia.
6. How do you see AI agents help organizations not just resolve queries but build stronger, long-term relationships with their customers?
AI agents are evolving into strategic relationship-builders, moving beyond query resolution to deliver highly personalized, proactive customer experiences. By leveraging customer data and preferences, they can anticipate needs, offer tailored solutions, and engage seamlessly across multiple channels. This ensures continuity and convenience, making customers feel valued and understood as they interact with different services or platforms.
The key to fostering long-term relationships lies in an AI agent’s ability to learn and adapt. By analyzing past interactions, AI agents can deliver a sense of familiarity that mirrors attentive human service. For example, in the automotive industry, they can proactively send maintenance reminders or follow up on previous service requests, creating personalized touchpoints that deepen customer engagement.
Moreover, their 24/7 availability ensures consistent, reliable support, showcasing an organization’s commitment to customer satisfaction. This combination of dependability and personalization turns routine interactions into opportunities for meaningful connection. Over time, these interactions build trust, enhance loyalty, and transform customer relationships into long-term partnerships.
Ultimately, AI agents are not just problem solvers—they are enablers of deeper connections, helping businesses demonstrate empathy, reliability, and care, all of which are essential for building enduring relationships in today’s competitive landscape.
7. What strategies can companies adopt to make AI interactions feel more personal and culturally relevant?
Conversational AI Agents utilize LLMs as the brain, access real-time conversational intelligence, maintain context, and orchestrate interactions in dynamic environments like messaging. Apart from building an enterprise-grade AI Agent that works within the enterprise guardrails and training data, for AI interactions to feel personal and culturally relevant, localization is key. Companies need to incorporate regional languages, dialects, and culturally appropriate expressions to ensure that interactions resonate with the customers. .
Another benefit of leveraging AI Agents is their capability to continuously learn which significantly enhances an AI agent’s ability to deliver personalized and relevant interactions. By analyzing user behavior over time, the AI adapts to individual preferences, tailoring its tone, content, and style to meet specific needs. This dynamic personalization builds stronger connections, creating experiences that feel uniquely designed for each user. As the AI learns from user feedback and past interactions, it improves its natural language understanding, reducing errors and better interpreting nuances like slang, idioms, and emotional cues. This makes interactions more empathetic and engaging, building trust over time.
Ultimately, combining robust localization strategies with adaptive learning capabilities allows AI to transcend generic communication, delivering experiences that feel authentic, culturally aligned, and deeply personal. This approach transforms AI from a transactional tool into a meaningful enabler of customer engagement.
About Beerud Sheth
Beerud Sheth is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gupshup, a global leader in Conversational AI. He holds a B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay and an M.S. from MIT. Before co-founding Gupshup, he spent five years on Wall Street, working with Citibank and Merrill Lynch to build financial models and trade mortgage securities. A serial entrepreneur, Sheth also co-founded Elance (now Upwork), a pioneering platform in the remote work space, which has grown to support millions of freelancers globally and is publicly traded on Nasdaq (UPWK).
Since founding Gupshup in 2004, Sheth has led the company through significant challenges, including market downturns and product pivots, transforming it into a leading Conversational Cloud platform. Sheth has scaled Gupshup to handle over 10 billion messages per month for 45,000+ customers and generate $250 million+ in revenue. Sheth is also an active mentor and angel investor, having supported 30+ startups and regularly sharing his insights through talks and podcasts.
About Gupshup
Built for the conversational era, Gupshup makes it easy for businesses to create personalized, automated and frictionless experiences across the customer lifecycle. Gupshup Conversation Cloud powers two-way interactions with industry-trained AI agents so businesses can go live faster across all major channels including WhatsApp, RCS, Instagram, Web, App, and more. Trusted by 45,000+ brands across the globe, Gupshup works with many of the top companies across industries including ecommerce, retail, payments, fintech, payments, media, travel, automotive, and banking to deliver transformative conversational experiences that accelerate growth, and optimize costs.
For more details, please visit: www.gupshup.io