In this episode, host Rob Havasy speaks with Israel Krush, the co-founder and CEO of Hyro.ai, a company producing AI-based conversation agent technology. Hyro was a featured company in the HIMSS 21 startup showcase, but came to Rob's attention when he saw a large sign at the Hyro booth that said, "Chatbots Suck!" Intrigued, he struck up a conversation and this interview is the ultimate result.

The interview begins with a founder's lesson in managing complexity as Israel discusses standardizing their model around one single EHR system with the right integration points, rather than struggling to manage complex integrations while also trying to perfect conversation AI technology.

The conversation then turns to the evolution of conversation agent tech - from its early research in the first part of the 2000s to its growing deployment in call centers today. Part of this is understanding the role of emotions in guiding the outcome of human-to-human conversations versus human-to-machine conversations, including the understanding that chatbots, by and large, are focused on a task and aren't distracted or swayed by emotional connections to the callers they interact with.

The conversation winds up by taking a look at how COVID not only changed the demand for tools like conversation agents among hospitals but whether or not changing workforce pressures have made permanent changes to the market dynamics. Then about how hospitals can use effective and efficient agents to demonstrate to patients that they have competent IT systems. And it ends with an anecdote about what voice styles might prove to be more effective in real lif use.