alt Hacker NewsI think of this as the kiosk economy. It's like how businesses introduce kiosks even when having a human employee would be more convenient, just for the sake of greater profit.
The biggest problem with AI customer service is that a human employee would've let a minor issue slide without escalating it. But a chatbot often inflames the situation, and by the time the customer reaches a human agent, they're already furious.
Most people aren't rational or logical. Non verbal feedback, like acknowledging someone's anger and showing empathy, is incredibly important.
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AI customer service doesn't fucking listen. A few years ago, I noticed that my bank had an old address on file for only one of my accounts. When I clicked edit next to the old address, it would bring me to a page that had the correct address.
At the time, they had a real person handling their support. The real person told me this was just a glitch and that my correct address was on file and everything is fine.
That wasn't actually true. A new debit card to replace my expiring one ended up being sent to the old address a couple of months ago.
So I go back to the website to try to edit it one last time. Same problem.
I call them and get their fucking stupid AI slopbot.
Still, I explain the whole situation:
> I'm trying to update my address on the website. When I click the edit link next to the old address, it shows my new address instead. I need to remove the old address.
What did the slopbot decide to say? Oh well, I should go on the website and edit my address of course! I gave it two more chances by trying to explain it a different way and how this didn't work.
Did it accept that and escalate the issue to a human? No. It kept telling me to go to the website.
I had to say
> Hey you fucking bitch, how many times do I have to tell you that doesn't fucking work? Escalate this to a fucking human before I get the attorney general involved.
to finally get a live person to fix it (I actually had to do this twice, the first set of fucks, the slopbot forgot what problem I was having and needed a refresher!). Suffice it to say, I will never trust any large amount of money with this bank again. I'm highly skeptical of any company using AI CS now, because this is one of my many experiences where the slopbot is incapable of recognizing a complex situation outside of its capabilities.
I mean look at this situation: their AI slopbot turned this one mistake into 5 mistakes instead of just allowing it to be one that another human corrects.
It's gotten to the point where whenever I see someone lauding AI customer support, I just assume they have an investment/job that hinges on people liking it and/or their only experiences are using it as a glorified refund button.
If an AI representing a company I must do business with is trying to “empathize” with me to calm me down about not being able to access the services I pay them for, you better believe it’s going to make me and other customers much more upset.
Then the poor wretched line workers have to handle people for whom the companies are screwing over - there is no effective line upwards to anyone making the decisions to use these things other than an impotent “feedback survey”. You can’t “ask for AI’s manager”. This accountability sink is not only horrible customer service, when it’s life and death like “can I get the perscription that allows me to live” wild stuff starts to happen.