this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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65
Dukaan lays off 90% of support staff after introducing AI chatbot for customer support (www.moneycontrol.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Dukaan founder and CEO Suumit Shah revealed that 90% of the company’s support staff has been laid off after the introduction of an AI chatbot to answer customer support queries.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (7 children)

The big problem with wanting to use AI (which generally means LLM these days) is that it lacks real creativity. If a problem isn’t documented, the AI won’t know what to do about a particularly difficult support request, or it will give wrong answers all together. My time in CS for tech taught me that the number of novel resolutions is far, far greater than most people realize.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s all tier 1 help desk ever does anyway.

From my experience they know less about the product than I do when I try to get support on it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

it's so true... I feel bad due to it but, half the time t1 is just rehashing the power cycle and try again list.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Yes, but for all the common issues, for which there's a script that 1st level will have to follow anyway, AI can do it. If it forwards to a human when it gets to a dead end - and snoops the conversation to learn from it - then less humans are employed.

Some years ago I opened an issue with Google Pay through the app feedback option.

A CS messaged me in less than 5 minutes. She was so thorough and her texts looked so scripted, that I had to ask "I apologize in advance, but... are you a bot or a human?", because I could be much more concise and less patient in my answers if it was a bot. She solved my issue very efficiently btw, and though it was quite funny that I asked.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

First level support staff generally aren't allowed to have creativity. They just follow the script and then pass the problem up when it's something they can't handle.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I would agree, this was my first thought.

Though if the product is sufficiently defined, and bounded, it might make sense. Think support line for a fridge, oven, or other less-open products. Unbounded spaces like general purpose computer support will initially struggle while documentation is built up.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wouldn't any automated system ideally escalate to the next tier of (human) support when it detects something complicated?

Though I agree with you, I don't think LLMs are lay-off 90% good.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Wouldn’t any automated system ideally escalate to the next tier of (human) support when it detects something complicated?

In my experience, this never happens. Since they have now very few human staff they make it VERY difficult to talk to a human to the point you often give up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

system ideally escalate to the next tier of (human) support when it detects something complicated?

Why escalate when you can hallucinate!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

often times it will get actual documented solutions wrong too. this is an example of the same type of concept implemented in the MDN

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

often times it will get actual documented solutions wrong too. this is an example of the same type of concept implemented in the MDN

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I phoned a customer helpline yesterday and it was answered immediately, by a soothing, male voice, which talked me through various options. The speech recognition of my responses was accurate, its side of the conversation was natural if a bit stilted, and it was able to answer all my questions. Scarily impressive.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is great news. Working for a helpdesk is hell. The fewer people who have to do it the better.

The problem is not the loss of jobs, we should strive to eliminate as many jobs as possible. The problem is the link between labor and income.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“ we should strive to eliminate as many jobs as possible.”

Which will make assimilation into the Collective all the easier. We know your kind.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Sure, resistance is futile after all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yea they are getting stupid good

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

My first thought is the latest ai bots will destroy first level customer support jobs.

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