6 ms·

British Telecom to cut 55,000 jobs with up to a fifth replaced by AI

49 points by rwmj 3y ago

dazc 3y ago
'Up to a fifth of those cuts will come in customer services as staff are replaced by technologies including artificial intelligence.' BT could easily lose all of those staff and it would make no difference at all. BT are one of those service providers where everything is fine until you have a problem and then you really do have a problem.
- drumhead 3y ago
  They're talking about improved chatbots aren't they. How long before the customer frustration sets in.
  - happymellon 3y ago
    Not only that, OpenReach is still BT even if it is "at arm's reach". How long before other service providers have to deal with Chatbots to report technical faults? I really hope reality is better than I expect.
    - hdjdjdkdnrh 3y ago
      Having been been employed as an ISP phone support tech... AI can have that job ... It absolutely sucks.
    - pipes 3y ago
      I tried to get open reach installed, 4 months after the original estimated install date I threw in the towel. But customer services treat them like a separate company. There was no way for me to contact open reach but BT relayed notes to the. It was a very frustrating experience.
      - happymellon 3y ago
        BT being allowed to hold onto OpenReach is criminal IMO. This sort of core infrastructure needs to be in a separate non-profit organisation. Even if BT "ring fenced" it as a separate entity, they have played extremely dirty over the decades.
  - zamadatix 3y ago
    When all employees are allowed to do is strictly follow a script it doesn't make much difference if said script comes from a chatbot instead. Customer frustration set in long ago, it was just found to be cheaper to have it that way.
  - dazc 3y ago
    The current script runs something like this, assuming you can get past the first hurdle of actually speaking to someone... 1) I am very sorry to hear of these problems and I will do everything I can to get the issue resolved for you.. 2) Please hold whilst I carry out some checks... 3) It does seem there is a problem and I can get this fixed for you, to identify your account I will send you a text message with a code... 4) Have you received the code? 5) I will send the code again... 6) Have you received the code? 7) I have to identify you before going further, have you received the code? 8) I will send the code again... (it never came) This was my last experience, bearing in mind I did pass the code test at the outset in order to speak to someone. My resolution was to go elsewhere. I moved my contract to Andrews and Arnold, they have an actual email address and do actually reply within an hour. In today's world, this is miraculous.
- noobermin 3y ago
  This right here is a good example of the fact that AI really is just a way for the worst people in society to continue to skate until they land someone where else to mess it up. It'd be nice if the market actually worked for once and we got better services, not just more profit for suppliers for worse services.
crmd 3y ago
The essence of this, and every news article I’ve read lately about a specific, tangible economic impact of AI, has the benefits accruing solely to capital (shareholders of a company). If this pattern continues unabated, we are in deep shit.
- nine_zeros 3y ago
  Exactly. What is lost in all these AI discussions is that owners of capital (often quasi-monopolies), can just reap all the profits of their legalized ownership. They can just use robots, AI and machines. Don't need to pay humans for anything. So what do humans do to survive in this society? I can only see either UBI or a revolution that ends capitalism.
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    If Stalin or Mao didn't need people I'd wager the common man would be worse off. If they didn't have the labor camps they probably would've just directly executed anyone who would've gone.
  - sp527 3y ago
    > or a revolution that ends capitalism Which is why companies like Anduril are flooring the accelerator on autonomous defense tech. I've wondered lately if Anduril is a product of Thiel once again playing 4D chess. It's not hard to see where this is all headed.
    - neerd 3y ago
      Yeah, my gut feeling is the rich see the writing on the wall. If they can keep a grip on things for a couple more decades then they can just replace all the poors with robots and either stick us all in UBI slums or find a more final solution.
      - mrguyorama 3y ago
        Most of the rich is 80. They don't have a plan to get out of this, because they expect to be dead.

49 points by rwmj 3y ago

dazc 3y ago

'Up to a fifth of those cuts will come in customer services as staff are replaced by technologies including artificial intelligence.' BT could easily lose all of those staff and it would make no difference at all. BT are one of those service providers where everything is fine until you have a problem and then you really do have a problem.

drumhead 3y ago
They're talking about improved chatbots aren't they. How long before the customer frustration sets in.
- happymellon 3y ago
  Not only that, OpenReach is still BT even if it is "at arm's reach". How long before other service providers have to deal with Chatbots to report technical faults? I really hope reality is better than I expect.
  - hdjdjdkdnrh 3y ago
    Having been been employed as an ISP phone support tech... AI can have that job ... It absolutely sucks.
  - pipes 3y ago
    I tried to get open reach installed, 4 months after the original estimated install date I threw in the towel. But customer services treat them like a separate company. There was no way for me to contact open reach but BT relayed notes to the. It was a very frustrating experience.
    - happymellon 3y ago
      BT being allowed to hold onto OpenReach is criminal IMO. This sort of core infrastructure needs to be in a separate non-profit organisation. Even if BT "ring fenced" it as a separate entity, they have played extremely dirty over the decades.
- zamadatix 3y ago
  When all employees are allowed to do is strictly follow a script it doesn't make much difference if said script comes from a chatbot instead. Customer frustration set in long ago, it was just found to be cheaper to have it that way.
- dazc 3y ago
  The current script runs something like this, assuming you can get past the first hurdle of actually speaking to someone... 1) I am very sorry to hear of these problems and I will do everything I can to get the issue resolved for you.. 2) Please hold whilst I carry out some checks... 3) It does seem there is a problem and I can get this fixed for you, to identify your account I will send you a text message with a code... 4) Have you received the code? 5) I will send the code again... 6) Have you received the code? 7) I have to identify you before going further, have you received the code? 8) I will send the code again... (it never came) This was my last experience, bearing in mind I did pass the code test at the outset in order to speak to someone. My resolution was to go elsewhere. I moved my contract to Andrews and Arnold, they have an actual email address and do actually reply within an hour. In today's world, this is miraculous.
noobermin 3y ago
This right here is a good example of the fact that AI really is just a way for the worst people in society to continue to skate until they land someone where else to mess it up. It'd be nice if the market actually worked for once and we got better services, not just more profit for suppliers for worse services.

crmd 3y ago

The essence of this, and every news article I’ve read lately about a specific, tangible economic impact of AI, has the benefits accruing solely to capital (shareholders of a company). If this pattern continues unabated, we are in deep shit.

nine_zeros 3y ago
Exactly. What is lost in all these AI discussions is that owners of capital (often quasi-monopolies), can just reap all the profits of their legalized ownership. They can just use robots, AI and machines. Don't need to pay humans for anything. So what do humans do to survive in this society? I can only see either UBI or a revolution that ends capitalism.
- willcipriano 3y ago
  If Stalin or Mao didn't need people I'd wager the common man would be worse off. If they didn't have the labor camps they probably would've just directly executed anyone who would've gone.
- sp527 3y ago
  > or a revolution that ends capitalism Which is why companies like Anduril are flooring the accelerator on autonomous defense tech. I've wondered lately if Anduril is a product of Thiel once again playing 4D chess. It's not hard to see where this is all headed.
  - neerd 3y ago
    Yeah, my gut feeling is the rich see the writing on the wall. If they can keep a grip on things for a couple more decades then they can just replace all the poors with robots and either stick us all in UBI slums or find a more final solution.
    - mrguyorama 3y ago
      Most of the rich is 80. They don't have a plan to get out of this, because they expect to be dead.