Harnessing Hybrid Intelligence: Smarter Together

April 02, 2025, by Jürg Meierhofer, Expert Group Smart Services

At the ZHAW Service Lunch on April 2nd, 2025, PD Dr. Jochen Wulf and Prof. Dr. Frank Hannich explored the exciting potential of ‘Hybrid Intelligence for Customer Management’, sharing conceptual possibilities and concrete ZHAW project examples on using generative AI across the customer lifecycle.

What happens when human ingenuity meets AI’s power? You get Hybrid Intelligence (HI) – systems designed for humans and AI to collaborate, achieving more than either could alone.

The goal isn’t replacement, but augmentation.

Their ZHAW research explores HI, especially in customer management and technical service. They highlighted powerful applications like personalized content, churn prediction, and augmented customer support.

A key focus is using Large Language Models (LLMs) for tasks like technical assistance, as examplified in their “Guided Maintenance Copilot” project. This involves Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to ground AI responses in specific knowledge.

Developing effective RAG systems requires careful, test-based optimization across factors like search, model selection, and context size. Different models (CPU vs. GPU) and languages show varying performance.

While LLMs can automate tasks from simple translation to complex reasoning, their findings emphasize: there’s no “one-size-fits-all.” Tailored, optimized solutions are key to unlocking the true potential of human-AI collaboration. Ultimately, the session demonstrated that thoughtful design and testing are crucial for successfully implementing hybrid intelligence solutions.