Much beloved US phone company Verizon has updated its My Verizon app to include 24/7 customer service from AI! It’s got a chatbot based on Google Gemini. [Verizon] Verizon tells The Verge: [Verge] …
Tech support workers who may or may not speak English as a second language or with a strong accent can sometimes be of actual help and sometimes not, much like people with possibly more familiar accents can. A call center AI has never been anywhere close to solving a problem I’ve had.
You’re no less fucked but instead of a human being getting underpaid for the trouble, a shitty tech corporation is overpaid.
At the very least, actual humans have an incentive not to BS you too much, because otherwise they might be held accountable. This might also be the reason why call center support workers sound less than helpful sometimes - they are unable to help you (for various technical or corporate reasons) and feel uneasy about this. A bot is probably going to tell you whatever you want to hear while sounding super polite all the time. If all of it turns out to be wrong… well, then this is your problem to deal with.
Tech support workers who may or may not speak English as a second language or with a strong accent can sometimes be of actual help and sometimes not, much like people with possibly more familiar accents can. A call center AI has never been anywhere close to solving a problem I’ve had.
You’re no less fucked but instead of a human being getting underpaid for the trouble, a shitty tech corporation is overpaid.
At the very least, actual humans have an incentive not to BS you too much, because otherwise they might be held accountable. This might also be the reason why call center support workers sound less than helpful sometimes - they are unable to help you (for various technical or corporate reasons) and feel uneasy about this. A bot is probably going to tell you whatever you want to hear while sounding super polite all the time. If all of it turns out to be wrong… well, then this is your problem to deal with.