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Comment by krackers | Hacker News Reader

The LLM is just calling APIs though, if the LLM can do it then it should be exposed to the user. Why have the middleman.

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the majority of everyday customers have never heard of an API and prefer to call in via phone

in that medium, llms are so much better than old phonetrees and waiting on hold

I think the point is: If there is an API somewhere in Company's systems that does what the customer wants, why have a phone tree or an LLM in the way? Just add a button to the app itself that calls that API.

most support volume comes through voice, and you need a layer to interpret what the customer intent is

additionally for many use cases it's not feasible from an eng standpoint to expose a separate api for each entire workflow, instead they typically have many smaller composable steps that need to be strung together in a certain order depending on the situation

its well fit for an llm + tools

There's no reason the app itself couldn't string together those composable steps into an action performed when the user invokes it. OP's point is there is that neither an LLM or a voice layer is really required, unless you're deliberately aiming to frustrate the user by adding extra steps (chat, phone call). Customer intent can be determined with good UX.

its the opposite, majority of users prefer to get support via chat or phone

navigating ux is still difficult in 2026

the average hn user is leagues above what the average customer or even smb knows about tech and ux, just not realistic for them to redesign their apis

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