What About That AI?? How May It Effect Customer Service

As the world leans into Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a conduit for commercial success, it is important to inspect aspects of this shift within context. As a public we have seen or heard signs of its integration for years, hinted to us in movies disguised as robots and overlords. As far back as the advent of the world wide web, rudimentary systems of automation and problem-solving conveyed to us that the limitations of human expertise were coming and coming fast. When IBM’s Watson question answering system trounced the two best Jeopardy! champions in 2011, many were shocked but not surprised; we had long since accepted that we could create something “more intelligent” than ourselves. And what about the coming of the quantum computer? (Or, is it already here)? 

The late 2010s, and now the early 2020s, have proven to be a monumental era for AI, with systems such as OpenAI’s GPT allowing all those with access to the internet the ability to observe its power in real time. Debate continues over whether the mass implementation of this new power is wholly good or not. Those opinions seem to be inconsequential. Fake images bolstered by bots plague our timelines, Hollywood’s box office smashes are almost always computer-generated, and if the job market is any indication, corporations are betting on the short-term cost-effectiveness of having a willing employee at their fingertips.  

The times are upon us, the seal has been broken, we have looked over the garden wall and cannot look away; there are any number of ways to say there is no turning back. So, we have a choice to make. Those of us in positions to do so can choose to preserve what has been, what we consider normal in our remote expressions to one another or, in an adventurer’s spirit, peer over the horizon on into a new, still unexplored land. But beware of AI and what it brings. 

Let’s look at customer service phone calls. It can be called the weapon of the service industry; irate customers can often be immediately met with an automated message, cyclical questions and department transfers, and ridiculous hold times (one such call with a Zappos employee lasted over 10 hours—look it up)! There are many who purposefully seek voice-to-voice or face-to-face interactions for little more than the comfort of the act. These customers tend to assume that their issue requires a live representative as that is seen to be in better faith than an online or other remote interaction. Callers can expect their situation being “seen” by a live representative to be more sympathetic than a non-human service. It is expected that ‘live’ representatives want to find a solution as well, whether for commission or for the good of the company they work for.  

Almost every challenge that AI sets is in relation to regulation. What will be the laws for AI generated images, inventions, and ideas? Who has the power to control what responses can be generated by answering systems? In the case of customer service, how will these automated systems be monitored and assessed at a rate viable for progression. Much of the online advocation around AI-led customer service harps on the broadness of its scope; where one agent or department may or may not be able to help the caller, AI can access the whole of the company’s expertise.  

AI is with us to stay. How you utilize it is up to you and your company. Don’t forget what it is there to do. To assist in getting to problem resolution. Not to have the problem exacerbate itself into a never ending on hold situation.

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