Washington, D.C. – June 16, 2025 – Afiniti, Inc., a global customer experience and artificial intelligence provider, today announced the appointment of Dileepan Narayanan as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer.

Mr. Narayanan brings more than two decades of experience in product and business leadership across consumer and enterprise technologies. His deep expertise spans Generative AI, Conversational AI, Computer Vision, Multimodal AI, IoT, and Edge Compute. He will be responsible for leading Afiniti’s global product and technology teams and will drive excellence in all our existing products and next-generation AI products and solutions. Mr. Narayanan will be based in San Francisco.

Mr. Narayanan joins Afiniti from Amazon, where, most recently, he led the launch of Generative AI applications and infrastructure for Amazon’s global selling community. Previously, he led product teams across Amazon’s Alexa and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), launching notable innovations such as personalized conversational AI for Alexa (Teachable AI), multimodal learning for Amazon’s home robot Astro, and augmented reality experiences. Mr. Narayanan also played a key role in scaling Amazon’s foundation models through AWS Bedrock. Earlier in his career, he held senior product leadership roles at Ruckus Networks, Broadcom, and Cypress Semiconductor, where he developed IoT platforms, led large-scale P&Ls, and introduced market-first innovations in wireless and touchscreen technologies.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dileepan to Afiniti,” said Jerome Kapelus, Chief Executive Officer of Afiniti. “He is a world-class product leader with a passion for turning bold ideas into real-world impact. His deep technical expertise and track record of scaling AI products from 0-to-1 will be critical as we drive forward our product-led growth agenda and continue delivering value to our clients. Dileepan will play a central role in advancing Afiniti’s next generation of AI optimization solutions — especially our new Agentic AI offerings — which will work together with our high-impact core pairing technology to continue to transform contact center performance and effectiveness for the world’s largest consumer-facing companies.”

“I’m deeply inspired by Afiniti’s mission and the opportunity to apply responsible AI to complex business challenges, and see tremendous potential to deliver meaningful impact,” said Mr. Narayanan. “I’m impressed by the strength of Afiniti’s AI innovation and talent, and I’m confident that, with a product-led mindset, we can unlock significant growth. I’m particularly excited to accelerate the development of our differentiating Agentic AI solutions, which will seamlessly leverage the market-proven strengths of Afiniti’s optimization platform to empower agents, improve outcomes, and redefine the customer experience in large-scale contact centers.”

About Afiniti

Founded in 2006, Afiniti is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, specializing in optimizing customer interactions across various industries. By leveraging patented technology, Afiniti identifies and predicts patterns of interpersonal behavior to pair customers with the most compatible contact center agents, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Afiniti’s AI solutions enable leading global consumer companies to drive high-value engagement between their customers and their customer service agents. To learn more, visit www.afiniti.com.

Media Contact
info@afiniti.com

New York, NY – March 17, 2025 – Afiniti, Inc., a global customer experience and artificial intelligence provider, today announced that its innovative eXperienceAI pairing solution is now available in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon Connect customers can now leverage the power of Afiniti’s cutting-edge eXperienceAI technology to effortlessly elevate customer experience by optimizing customer retention, boost sales conversion rates, drive revenue growth, and lower service costs within AWS Marketplace.

eXperienceAI unlocks the full potential of siloed data to make smarter routing decisions, increasing the likelihood of success on every customer interaction. Its intuitive dashboards provide deep insights into outcome drivers, enabling measurable, transformative improvements across key performance indicators.

With user-friendly, no-code tools that replicate the workflows of Afiniti’s data scientists, eXperienceAI simplifies the optimization of contact center operations. The platform incorporates advanced data preparation and AI model training to drive efficient routing decisions, reducing time to value and maximizing impact.

In the past year alone, Afiniti’s technology has delivered over $2.2 billion in measurable value to businesses globally, transforming customer experiences and optimizing outcomes at scale.

“With the launch of eXperienceAI in the AWS Marketplace, we are empowering businesses to elevate their contact center operations to new heights. By fostering smarter, more meaningful pairing between customers and agents, we are not just improving efficiency – we’re driving real, measurable outcomes that transform the customer experience and deliver superior results for businesses across industries,” said Ben Evans, Chief Partnerships Officer, Afiniti.

eXperienceAI is now generally available in AWS Marketplace. To view the listing, click here. For more information on Afiniti and its AI-driven Outcome Optimization solutions, please click here.

About Afiniti

Founded in 2006, Afiniti is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, specializing in optimizing customer interactions across various industries. By leveraging patented technology, Afiniti identifies and predicts patterns of interpersonal behavior to pair customers with the most compatible contact center agents, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.  Afiniti’s AI solutions enable leading global consumer companies to drive high-value engagement between their customers and their customer service agents. To learn more, visit www.afiniti.com.

Media Contact
info@afiniti.com

New York, NY – March 7, 2025  – Afiniti, Inc., a global customer experience and artificial intelligence provider, today announced the appointment of two new board members, Anurag Yagnik and Chris Karp, as the company continues to strengthen its operations and growth.

Anurag Yagnik is a seasoned technology executive and board member with over 25 years of experience transforming legacy software into cloud-native, SaaS solutions. Mr. Yagnik has extensive experience working with private equity-owned businesses and helping to drive various value creation and growth initiatives. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Prophix and was the founding CTO at Vitech Systems Group.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anurag to our Board,” said Jerome Kapelus, CEO of Afiniti. “His impressive background and proven track record in delivering cutting-edge enterprise software solutions will be invaluable as we further invest in next-generation technologies and unlock new avenues for growth. We look forward to benefiting from his strategic insights and leadership.”

Chris Karp is an innovative executive with vast expertise in managing customer service operations and technical support, as well as driving continuous improvement and transformation at SaaS businesses. He has been recognized for developing and leading high-performing teams and his commitment to delivering financial excellence, high customer satisfaction, establishing employee followership and fostering accountability. Mr. Karp currently serves as Chief Customer Officer and EVP of Operations at Auctane and has held leadership positions at Chewy, RealPage Inc and Tektronix Communications. He is a board member at NPOWER.

“We are excited to have Chris join our Board,” added Mr. Kapelus. “His deep understanding of contact center operations and the leading-edge AI products that drive value to customers will be vital as we build on our strengths, expand our capabilities and continue to enhance customer experience journeys. Chris’ leadership and strategic vision will play a key role in helping us drive the company’s growth and success in the years to come.”

About Afiniti

Founded in 2006, Afiniti is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, specializing in optimizing customer interactions across various industries. By leveraging patented technology, Afiniti identifies and predicts patterns of interpersonal behavior to pair customers with the most compatible contact center agents, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Afiniti’s AI solutions enable leading global consumer companies to drive high-value engagement between their customers and their customer service agents. To learn more, visit www.afiniti.com.

Media Contact
info@afiniti.com

Washington, DC – February 10, 2025 – Afiniti, Inc., a global customer experience and artificial intelligence provider, today announced that Jerome Kapelus has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kapelus succeeds Hassan Afzal, who will continue to support Afiniti in a strategic advisory role.

Mr. Kapelus is a seasoned operations and financial executive with over 25 years of experience leading, scaling and transforming high-growth technology companies. Most recently, he was President of PWCC Marketplace, where he led the business’ integration and transformation following its acquisition by Fanatics, Inc. Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer of TCGplayer, overseeing significant revenue growth and operational improvements before its sale to eBay. Kapelus also served as Chief Financial Officer of Quartet Health, where he played a key role in rapidly scaling and operationalizing the business.

“It is an honor to lead Afiniti and its tremendously talented employees as CEO,” said Kapelus. “I would also like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for Hassan’s leadership and dedication to Afiniti, both in the last two years as CEO and in the many years before that as a key architect of our unique and patented technology. Thanks to his efforts, Afiniti is now positioned to expand its market presence and achieve sustainable growth at scale. I look forward to building on his legacy by continuing to invest in cutting-edge AI technologies that bring tangible value to Afiniti’s customers and empower them to optimize their customer experience.”

“Jerome is an experienced, operationally focused leader with a knack for innovative solutions that encourage transformation and drive growth,” said David Flannery, President of Vista Credit Partners and Chairman of Afiniti’s Board of Directors. “He has been an excellent addition to Afiniti’s leadership team and is a natural choice to lead the company through this important next phase of its journey.”

About Afiniti

Founded in 2006, Afiniti is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions, specializing in optimizing customer interactions across various industries. By leveraging patented technology, Afiniti identifies and predicts patterns of interpersonal behavior to pair customers with the most compatible contact center agents, enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Afiniti’s AI solutions enable leading global consumer companies to drive high-value engagement between their customers and their customer service agents. To learn more, visit www.afiniti.com.

Media Contact
info@afiniti.com

Afiniti is happy to announce a new partnership with Türk Telekom, Turkey’s leading telecom operator. They have chosen to work with Afiniti so that they can use our eXperienceAI Elite product to help them make their client interactions easier and more efficient along with increasing happiness in resolution for the customer. Rather than routing customers to the first available agent with the traditional approach, Afiniti’s patented AI predictive technology pairs customers with agents based on who they will best interact with and who is most equipped to solve the customer’s particular problem.

“Türk Telekom’s first and utmost priority is to deliver better experiences to its customer and towards this aim we are committed to use most innovative and new technologies, particularly applied-AI” said Ms. Zeynep Özden, CMO of Türk Telekom. “Every interaction is a unique opportunity to give customers a better experience. We started to partner with Afiniti to ensure the best experience for all  our customers in Contact Center domain through pairing them with the right agents who will best address their needs.”

“We are thrilled to strengthen our collaboration with Türk Telekom, a leader in innovation and customer satisfaction. This partnership represents a significant step forward in our mission to optimize customer interactions through advanced AI-driven solutions. Together, we are committed to delivering exceptional service quality, and precisely measurable value leveraging our combined expertise to create unparalleled value for Türk Telekom’s customers.” – Jérôme de Castries, EVP International, Afiniti

Afiniti’s pairings lead to better conversations that reduce the need for transfers or follow-up calls as well as improving Türk Telekom’s commercial performance. Türk Telekom and Afiniti are planning to further expand their partnership in the AI and Contact Center space via new use-cases and applications .

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Türk Telekom ve Afiniti Ortaklığı

Afiniti, Türkiye’nin lider bilgi ve iletişim teknolojileri şirketi Türk Telekom ile yeni bir ortaklığa imza atmanın mutluluğunu yaşıyor. Türk Telekom, eXperienceAI Elite ürünümüzü kullanarak müşteri etkileşimlerini daha kolay ve verimli hale getirmenin yanı sıra müşteri memnuniyetini artırmak amacıyla Afiniti ile çalışmaya başladı. Afiniti’nin patentli yapay zekâ teknolojisi müşterileri, en iyi hizmeti alacakları ve sorunlarını çözmek için en iyi donanıma sahip olan temsilcilerle eşleştiriyor.

Türk Telekom Pazarlama ve Müşteri Deneyimi Genel Müdür Yardımcısı Sn. Zeynep Özden, Afiniti ile yaptıkları iş birliği ile ilgili şunları söyledi: “Türk Telekom olarak birinci önceliğimiz müşterilerimizin deneyimlerinin iyileştirilmesi ve ihtiyaçlarına uygun çözümler sunmak. Bu doğrultuda dünyadaki en özel ve yenilikçi teknolojileri kullanmaya devam ediyoruz. Uygulamalı Yapay Zekâ kullanımı alanındaki odağımızın bir parçası olarak Afiniti firması ile geliştirdiğimiz iş birliğimiz çerçevesinde, Çağrı Merkezimize temas eden her müşterimizi, kendisine en uygun müşteri temsilcisi ile görüştürerek en iyi deneyimi sunuyoruz.”

“İnovasyon ve müşteri memnuniyetinde lider Türk Telekom ile iş birliğimizi güçlendirmekten büyük heyecan duyuyoruz. Bu ortaklık, gelişmiş yapay zekâ tabanlı çözümler aracılığıyla müşteri etkileşimlerini optimize etme misyonumuzda ileriye doğru atılmış önemli bir adımı temsil ediyor. Uzmanlığımızı Türk Telekom’un uygulama gücü ile birleştirerek Türk Telekom müşterileri için ölçülebilir bir değer yaratmaya ve yenilikçi hizmet sunmaya kararlıyız. ” – Jérôme de Castries, Uluslararası GMY, Afiniti

Bu iş birliği sayesinde, Türk Telekom hem müşteri memnuniyetinde hem de ticari perspektifte kazanım elde etmektedir. Türk Telekom ve Afiniti, bundan sonraki süreçte müşteri deneyimini artıracak yeni çözümleri devreye alarak iş birliklerini geliştirmek üzere çalışmalarına devam etmektedirler.

Afiniti has been recognized as a Bronze winner in the 18th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service thanks to the great partnership we have with LivePerson.

Sam Logan, chief legal officer of Afiniti, provides an inside look to AI-powered customer service and predicts how emerging technology will change the way brands and buyers interact.

Additionally, our Chief Partnership Officer, Ben Evans​ took part in a panel session with people from Avaya, Genesys and Cisco and spoke to a packed room about the future in his “Contact Centres / CX 2027: What Will Drive the Market” session.

Ben emphasised the importance of clear objectives and measurable business outcomes, stating, ”Companies need to think beyond cost reduction when embracing these new technologies. At Afiniti, we look at how our technology can improve customer retention and lifetime value.”

At Booth 1311, our team engaged with industry leaders, potential leads, partners, analysts, and media representatives, showcasing the potential of our solution. Check out them at our booth with their cool Afiniti t-shirts!

The use of AI in consumer-facing businesses is on the rise — as is the concern for how best to govern the technology over the long-term. Pressure to better govern AI is only growing with the Biden administration’s recent executive order that mandated new measurement protocols for the development and use of advanced AI systems.

AI providers and regulators today are highly focused on explainability as a pillar of AI governance, enabling those affected by AI systems to best understand and challenge those systems’ outcomes, including bias.

While explaining AI is practical for simpler algorithms, like those used to approve car loans, more recent AI technology uses complex algorithms that can be extremely complicated to explain but still provide powerful benefits.

OpenAI’s GPT-4 is trained on massive amounts of data, with billions of parameters, and can produce human-like conversations that are revolutionizing entire industries. Similarly, Google Deepmind’s cancer screening models use deep learning methods to build accurate disease detection that can save lives.

These complex models can make it nearly impossible to trace where a decision was made, but it may not even be meaningful to do so. The question we must ask ourselves is: Should we deprive the world of these technologies that are only partially explainable, when we can ensure they bring benefit while limiting harm?

Even US lawmakers who seek to regulate AI are quickly understanding the challenges around explainability, revealing the need for a different approach to AI governance for this complex technology — one more focused on outcomes, rather than solely on explainability.

Dealing with uncertainty around novel technology isn’t new

The medical science community has long recognized that to avoid harm when developing new therapies, one must first identify what the potential harm might be. To assess the risk of this harm and reduce uncertainty, the randomized controlled trial was developed.

In a randomized controlled trial, also known as a clinical trial, participants are assigned to treatment and control groups. The treatment group is exposed to the medical intervention and the control is not, and the outcomes in both cohorts are observed.

By comparing the two demographically comparable cohorts, causality can be identified — meaning the observed impact is a result of a specific treatment.

Historically, medical researchers have relied on a stable testing design to determine a therapy’s long-term safety and efficacy. But in the world of AI, where the system is continuously learning, new benefits and risks can emerge every time the algorithms are retrained and deployed.

The classical randomized control study may not be fit for purpose to assess AI risks. But there could be utility in a similar framework, like A/B testing, that can measure an AI system’s outcomes in perpetuity.

How A/B testing can help determine AI safety

Over the last 15 years, A/B testing has been used extensively in product development, where groups of users are treated differentially to measure the impacts of certain product or experiential features. This can include identifying which buttons are more clickable on a web page or mobile app, and when to time a marketing email.

The former head of experimentation at Bing, Ronny Kohavi, introduced the concept of online continuous experimentation. In this testing framework, Bing users were randomly and continuously allocated to either the current version of the site (the control) or the new version (the treatment).

These groups were constantly monitored, then assessed on several metrics based on overall impact. Randomizing users ensures that the observed differences in the outcomes between treatment and control groups are due to the interventional treatment and not something else — such as time of day, differences in the demographics of the user, or some other treatment on the website.

This framework allowed technology companies like Bing — and later Uber, Airbnb and many others — to make iterative changes to their products and user experience and understand the benefit of these changes on key business metrics. Importantly, they built infrastructure to do this at scale, with these businesses now managing potentially thousands of experiments concurrently.

The result is that many companies now have a system to iteratively test changes to a technology against a control or a benchmark: One that can be adapted to measure not just business benefits like clickthrough, sales and revenue, but also causally identify harms like disparate impact and discrimination.

What effective measurement of AI safety looks like

A large bank, for instance, might be concerned that their new pricing algorithm for personal lending products is unfair in its treatment of women. While the model does not use protected attributes like gender explicitly, the business is concerned that proxies for gender may have been used when training the data, and so it sets up an experiment.

Those in the treatment group are priced with this new algorithm. For a control group of customers, lending decisions were made using a benchmarked model that had been used for the last 20 years.

Assuming the demographic attributes like gender are known, distributed equally and of sufficient volume between the treatment and control, the disparate impact between men and women (if there is one) can be measured and therefore answer whether the AI system is fair in its treatment of women.

The exposure of AI to human subjects can also occur more slowly for a controlled rollout of new product features, where the feature is gradually released to a larger proportion of the user base.

Alternatively, the treatment can be limited to a smaller, less risky population first. For instance, Microsoft uses red teaming, where a group of employees interact with the AI system in an adversarial way to test its most significant harms before releasing it to the general population.

Measuring AI safety ensures accountability

Where explainability can be subjective and poorly understood in many cases, evaluating an AI system in terms of its outputs on different populations provides a quantitative and tested framework for determining whether an AI algorithm is actually harmful.

Critically, it establishes accountability of the AI system, where an AI provider can be responsible for the system’s proper functioning and alignment with ethical principles. In increasingly complex environments where users are being treated by many AI systems, continuous measurement using a control group can determine which AI treatment caused the harm and hold that treatment accountable.

While explainability remains a heightened focus for AI providers and regulators across industries, the techniques first used in healthcare and later adopted in tech to deal with uncertainty can help achieve what is a universal goal — that AI is working as intended and, most importantly, is safe.

About Dr. Caroline O’Brien
Caroline O’Brien is chief data officer and head of product at Afiniti, a customer experience AI company.

About Professor Elazer R. Edelman
Elazer R. Edelman is the Edward J. Poitras professor in medical engineering and science at MIT, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior attending physician in the coronary care unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Originally published in VentureBeat on January 7, 2024.