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Wells Fargo Testing Customer Service Bots Through Facebook Messenger

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In an effort to meet people where they are, Wells Fargo is ramping up its development of artificial intelligence based technology. The financial institution is testing a "chatbot" in Facebook Messenger.

Wells Fargo is testing a chatbot for Facebook Messenger featuring new customer service experiences.

"It's very simple You're in messaging and call up the app then you start typing in questions like your balance or how much money you've spent for coffee over the last month and the chatbot responds," said Philadelphia native Steve Ellis, the head of Wells Fargo's Innovation Group. "Our goal is to make our services more accessible based on where customers are and where they want those services received. The second is to improve the customer experience. We are learning how people like to use services like this."

The chatbot -- which does not yet have a name -- will be able to answer questions like how much money is in your account and where the nearest bank ATM is.

"We're starting with information," Ellis said, "then we'll do transactions and then ultimately the long-term vision would be then providing guidance and advice."

Last May, the bank adopted Messenger as its main channel for addressing basic customer questions. The messaging platform has 1.2 billion users making it a good place to test out new methods of customers interactions.

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