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The idea of AI taking over customer service jobs essentially just means "we need an excuse to stop providing customer service". The open secret is that AI isn't

by boh 4y ago

The idea of AI taking over customer service jobs essentially just means "we need an excuse to stop providing customer service". The open secret is that AI isn't very good at anything. That's why you're not getting driven by a driverless car, and you still have to yell at your Alexa to actually do what you asked it to do. This CEO's statement isn't for the public, it's to pretend to IBM's B2B clients that they have something that could actually cut costs. Thankfully it can't and it won't. The social implications are besides the point given that they're nowhere near to what they pretend they're capable of. Watson was a failure, Alexa is just bleeding money and ChatGPT is already losing its luster. AI is all hype, cheap labor overseas will take your job way before AI does.

piuantiderp 4y ago
I switched to Google Fiber primarily because of this, I can actually talk to someone just by calling. No endless messages, no nothing. Actual customer service and support. That I also get better speed is just the cherry on top
- nine_k 4y ago
  This is the first time I see somebody praising a Google service for better support than competition, with actual humans in the loop! My applause to Google Fiber.
gmadsen 4y ago
Cruise has started aggressively scaling its fleet of driverless cars, that are currently taxiing people without a human driver.. I'm not sure if its some weird human psychology thing going on, but the amount of posts and emotional responses claiming that the current advances in AI are worthless is kind of crazy. AI is without a doubt going to change society, and I suppose that is scary, but we are only at the beginning.
- yowlingcat 4y ago
  Why not put your money where your mouth is and start or invest in a company selling insurance to Cruise? I would personally feel reluctant to do so, because I think insuring the tail risk of a company like Cruise or really even Tesla (pertaining to FSD) is a fool's errand and not a positive ROI proposition. And I don't mean now, I mean until proven otherwise. There is no guarantee or even really proof points that the model AI works around even does a good enough job to account for edge case scenarios that account for most of the tail risk. If that is not the case, then the entire hypothesis around AI (which is that it is structurally more efficient than alternatives) really falls apart, doesn't it?
- JohnFen 4y ago
  I think that what you're seeing with people claiming the advances are worthless (which most people aren't) is really just a reaction to the equally crazy claims being made about the advances made by other people overhyping the advances. A sort of social counterbalance. As always, the truth is likely to be somewhere in the middle.
- boh 4y ago
  I don't know why a company that loses billions of dollars a year and is known for bizarre driving patterns is an example of AI success. Confidence in AI is a product of faith, a lack of confidence is a product of evidence.
welshwelsh 4y ago
People have this idea that one day robots will start showing up all over the place and taking everyone's job. Ideally, the thinking goes, we will set up universal basic income so that ordinary humans can still survive without jobs. But no- as you imply, AI isn't taking anyone's job. But AI can still be a useful and effective tool. It's a tool in the same way that programming is a tool; something that can be used by skilled workers to improve their productivity. It's another skill you need to master if you want to stay competitive in today's world. People who can't keep up will lose their jobs to people that can. And they won't get any benefits, because they weren't replaced by AI: they were replaced by other people. Setting up an effective AI-powered customer service system is not as simple as plugging in ChatGPT, it will take a large and continuous engineering effort. And the engineers won't want to share their paychecks with the manual laborers they replaced.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
  Important to point out that AI and robots don't 'take' peoples jobs. Rather managers fire people and then replace them with robots and AI.
LightHugger 4y ago
This flood of "Ai isn't very good at anything" posts is an interesting look into the mechanics of mass denialism.
LightHugger 4y ago
Counterpoint: Ai is good at doing things and is quite cheap, and is getting even better at things at an increasingly fast pace.
deleted 4y ago
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by boh 4y ago

piuantiderp 4y ago

I switched to Google Fiber primarily because of this, I can actually talk to someone just by calling. No endless messages, no nothing. Actual customer service and support. That I also get better speed is just the cherry on top

nine_k 4y ago
This is the first time I see somebody praising a Google service for better support than competition, with actual humans in the loop! My applause to Google Fiber.

gmadsen 4y ago

Cruise has started aggressively scaling its fleet of driverless cars, that are currently taxiing people without a human driver.. I'm not sure if its some weird human psychology thing going on, but the amount of posts and emotional responses claiming that the current advances in AI are worthless is kind of crazy. AI is without a doubt going to change society, and I suppose that is scary, but we are only at the beginning.

yowlingcat 4y ago
Why not put your money where your mouth is and start or invest in a company selling insurance to Cruise? I would personally feel reluctant to do so, because I think insuring the tail risk of a company like Cruise or really even Tesla (pertaining to FSD) is a fool's errand and not a positive ROI proposition. And I don't mean now, I mean until proven otherwise. There is no guarantee or even really proof points that the model AI works around even does a good enough job to account for edge case scenarios that account for most of the tail risk. If that is not the case, then the entire hypothesis around AI (which is that it is structurally more efficient than alternatives) really falls apart, doesn't it?
JohnFen 4y ago
I think that what you're seeing with people claiming the advances are worthless (which most people aren't) is really just a reaction to the equally crazy claims being made about the advances made by other people overhyping the advances. A sort of social counterbalance. As always, the truth is likely to be somewhere in the middle.
boh 4y ago
I don't know why a company that loses billions of dollars a year and is known for bizarre driving patterns is an example of AI success. Confidence in AI is a product of faith, a lack of confidence is a product of evidence.

welshwelsh 4y ago

People have this idea that one day robots will start showing up all over the place and taking everyone's job. Ideally, the thinking goes, we will set up universal basic income so that ordinary humans can still survive without jobs. But no- as you imply, AI isn't taking anyone's job. But AI can still be a useful and effective tool. It's a tool in the same way that programming is a tool; something that can be used by skilled workers to improve their productivity. It's another skill you need to master if you want to stay competitive in today's world. People who can't keep up will lose their jobs to people that can. And they won't get any benefits, because they weren't replaced by AI: they were replaced by other people. Setting up an effective AI-powered customer service system is not as simple as plugging in ChatGPT, it will take a large and continuous engineering effort. And the engineers won't want to share their paychecks with the manual laborers they replaced.

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
Important to point out that AI and robots don't 'take' peoples jobs. Rather managers fire people and then replace them with robots and AI.

LightHugger 4y ago

This flood of "Ai isn't very good at anything" posts is an interesting look into the mechanics of mass denialism.

LightHugger 4y ago

Counterpoint: Ai is good at doing things and is quite cheap, and is getting even better at things at an increasingly fast pace.

deleted 4y ago

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