Optical Character Recognition
Optical character recognition (OCR) is the technology that extracts text from images, scanned documents, and photos, converting visual text into machine-readable data.
In Depth
OCR is a critical technology for automating document-heavy customer support processes. When customers submit scanned invoices, photographed receipts, or screenshots of error messages, OCR extracts the text so AI agents can process the information automatically. Modern AI-powered OCR goes beyond simple character recognition — it understands document layouts, tables, handwriting, and even partially obscured text.
In customer support, OCR enables automated processing of warranty claims from receipt photos, extraction of order numbers from shipping labels, reading of product serial numbers from device photos, and digitization of paper forms submitted by customers. Combined with NLP, OCR creates an end-to-end pipeline where a customer can photograph a document and the AI agent extracts, understands, and acts on the information without manual data entry.
Related Terms
Computer Vision
Computer vision is a field of AI that enables machines to interpret and understand visual information from images, videos, and other visual inputs.
Multi-Modal AI Support
Multi-modal AI support uses AI models capable of processing and generating multiple data types — text, images, audio, and video — to handle customer interactions that involve more than just written text.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language in a meaningful way.
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