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Comment by billllll | Hacker News Reader

Curious how much of this is due to factors other than AI. The data is correlated, but at least for me, I'm not convinced of causation.

Also, I'm kind of surprised at the customer service numbers. Chatbots existed before ChatGPT. Are LLMs more effective than the previous solutions at decreasing escalation to humans? Or could it be other factors like the economy at large causing companies to make do with less customer service?

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> I'm kind of surprised at the customer service numbers. Chatbots existed before ChatGPT.

Interesting, what makes you skeptical about LLMs' efficiency in customer service? It's not like classic chatbots were doing a phenomenal job

I don't see why your run of the mill LLM would fail to do a better job.

Anecdotally, yes, LLMs are more effective at decreasing escalations to humans.

More than existing chatbots? Curious what anecdotes you have, whether it be on the customer-side or the service-side.

I believe my employer is preparing to replace many or most of their human customer service representatives with LLMs or some form of AI. They haven't said this is their plan but based on several things like the new software and tools they've recently switched to, the fact that all customer services reps have been fully remote since the start of COVID and the volume of calls they can't currently handle in various geographies. I'm just speculating but this is my expectation, and the transition may take many years.

I opened a support ticket with my Bank, BUNQ, recently. It was 'resolved' by an AI Agent.

It simply spat out what I said to it, and said "We can now proceed with this request." It took about 5 more days to receive any answer.

I pay 10 euros a month for Bunq.

It's piss poor.

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