3 ms·

> what's wrong with that documentation taking the form of an interactive agent Among many others, in no particular order: * (borrowing from above) The interac

> what's wrong with that documentation taking the form of an interactive agent Among many others, in no particular order: * (borrowing from above) The interactive agent can force you to sit through however many menus/questions the company wants until you are "granted" cancellation. Good luck finding the right option if they make it difficult to navigate! All the while, you have a condescendingly "friendly" "conversation". At least with a real person, I can convey my message clearly, and even if they must still read certain things, they will know to do so more quickly. Have you ever dealt with Amazon's chatbot, which shows the "typing" graphic for a few seconds before giving what is obviously generated text, and it takes a few back-and-forth exchanges like this before someone real introduces themself in the chat? * You can't quote it like you can actual documentation, which has knock-on effects such being harder to hold the company to account, not being able to give advice to friends & family, not being able to compare competitors before you open an account, ...

lolinder 3y ago
None of these problems are inherent to chatbots, nor are any of them unique to them. I'm not even convinced that any of these would be exacerbated by a chatbot—a company that's going to treat its users poorly will do so regardless of the type of agent they employ. And on the flip side, a company that cares about its users could absolutely design a chatbot that solves these problems and legitimately saves everyone time. I think the attitudes that we have right now towards chatbots are shaped by the companies that don't give a shit—the tech really wasn't ready yet, so only the worst companies tried to force you to use a chatbot. We're on the verge of that changing, and soon a chatbot will be able to provide a better customer support experience than the average overworked call center employee. When that happens, I expect to see companies that care about their customers begin to make the switch, and we'll start interacting with implementations that really work.
- me-vs-cat 3y ago
  Like you, I'd love to live in a world where, "if everyone behaves, things are much better for everyone". It's a great idea.

lolinder 3y ago

None of these problems are inherent to chatbots, nor are any of them unique to them. I'm not even convinced that any of these would be exacerbated by a chatbot—a company that's going to treat its users poorly will do so regardless of the type of agent they employ. And on the flip side, a company that cares about its users could absolutely design a chatbot that solves these problems and legitimately saves everyone time. I think the attitudes that we have right now towards chatbots are shaped by the companies that don't give a shit—the tech really wasn't ready yet, so only the worst companies tried to force you to use a chatbot. We're on the verge of that changing, and soon a chatbot will be able to provide a better customer support experience than the average overworked call center employee. When that happens, I expect to see companies that care about their customers begin to make the switch, and we'll start interacting with implementations that really work.

me-vs-cat 3y ago
Like you, I'd love to live in a world where, "if everyone behaves, things are much better for everyone". It's a great idea.