100% this! I had to call my kid’s school district recently. Spoke to a very nice and helpful person in the IT department about unlocking his account. Hardly any phone tree nonsense, and the issue got resolved in under 2 minutes. Even though it’s basically a government agency, it made me realize just how fucking shitty most corporate interactions are these days.
And not only that, think about it: the small interactions we have with other human beings can improve our mental health in micro-doses throughout the day.
I’ve had plenty of calls with humans where you can feel the smile on the other end, and in turn, I’m smiling during the call. And you hang up being a little happier than before the call. And the relationship with the company (or school, or dentist’s office) has improved because of how the call made me feel.
This won’t happen with AI. And having one that sounds or acts more human doesn’t change that fact.
Actually, it can only work to harm relationships between customers and businesses, because at best, you’re left feeling empty after a call (even if your issue was resolved).
At worst, you double-down on your anger because of the AI chatbot couldn’t help, and now you’ve got to waste more time finding answers. And since you’ve been completely disrespected by the company for even having the audacity to stick you with a chatbot, you harbour contempt for them.
I’ve lost so much respect for businesses that I’ve had no problem giving my money to in the past, only to now get email replies back from a chatbot when I’ve got an important question or issue.
Reminds me of an interaction I had with my ISP lately. I’m with an ISP who takes pride in using local tech support and I was calling to see if they could remove cgnat from my line. Dude knew exactly what I wanted, there was no language barrier, no AI jank, just a guy who also had his own homelab and knew why cgnat could be a problem. 5 minutes on the phone and the problem was solved. Glowing 10/10 feedback from me.
100% this! I had to call my kid’s school district recently. Spoke to a very nice and helpful person in the IT department about unlocking his account. Hardly any phone tree nonsense, and the issue got resolved in under 2 minutes. Even though it’s basically a government agency, it made me realize just how fucking shitty most corporate interactions are these days.
And not only that, think about it: the small interactions we have with other human beings can improve our mental health in micro-doses throughout the day.
I’ve had plenty of calls with humans where you can feel the smile on the other end, and in turn, I’m smiling during the call. And you hang up being a little happier than before the call. And the relationship with the company (or school, or dentist’s office) has improved because of how the call made me feel.
This won’t happen with AI. And having one that sounds or acts more human doesn’t change that fact.
Actually, it can only work to harm relationships between customers and businesses, because at best, you’re left feeling empty after a call (even if your issue was resolved).
At worst, you double-down on your anger because of the AI chatbot couldn’t help, and now you’ve got to waste more time finding answers. And since you’ve been completely disrespected by the company for even having the audacity to stick you with a chatbot, you harbour contempt for them.
I’ve lost so much respect for businesses that I’ve had no problem giving my money to in the past, only to now get email replies back from a chatbot when I’ve got an important question or issue.
Reminds me of an interaction I had with my ISP lately. I’m with an ISP who takes pride in using local tech support and I was calling to see if they could remove cgnat from my line. Dude knew exactly what I wanted, there was no language barrier, no AI jank, just a guy who also had his own homelab and knew why cgnat could be a problem. 5 minutes on the phone and the problem was solved. Glowing 10/10 feedback from me.