An e-commerce CEO is getting absolutely roasted online for laying off 90% of his support staff after an AI chatbot outperformed them (article from 12.07.2023)
An e-commerce CEO is getting absolutely roasted online for laying off 90% of his support staff after an AI chatbot outperformed them (article from 12.07.2023)
"Here's how he did it" -- he fired them. No idea what his business is, what questions they were spending 2hrs resolving, how the 3 remaining help desk employees share their $100/month. The tweet is bad but the whole article is a waste of electrons.
"I'm terrified of the future where we will never speak to a human again in customer support which means we will never get a problem solved, you'll just be passed around between bots."
If AIs were completely incapable of doing this job then any company that tries handing it over to AIs would suffer badly from the choice.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/31/eating-disorder-hotline-union-ai-chatbot-harm ("US eating disorder helpline takes down AI chatbot over harmful advice")
And the article from not long before that: https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ezkm/eating-disorder-helpline-fires-staff-transitions-to-chatbot-after-unionization ("Eating Disorder Helpline Fires Staff, Transitions to Chatbot After Unionization")
Exactly. That company quickly reversed the decision. So why the "terror" at this future, if one thinks that AIs can't do this work?
Does this increase efficiency and reduce costs? Yes. Will a for-profit business ever choose not to increase efficiency and reduce costs when given a choice? No. Therefore, workers always get screwed against AI and new technologies.