Hearts & Minds: “Or press 3 to talk to the Bot”

The AI revolution is with us and gaining momentum. One area that is ripe for development is call centres. The Economist contains a detailed exposition of what we can expect, with bots dealing with and responding to irate customers. They cite the example of Sonos, the home audio systems maker, which in May released an app full of glitches.

Sonos’s phones were red hot. One of the agents handling the complaints was a newcomer. Sonos had hired Sierra, a startup founded by Brett Taylor, chairman of Open AI to supply a customer-service bot powered by generative AI. The potential for disaster was enormous as already furious consumers found themselves lost in a robotic maze, only fuelling their anger. In fact, Sonos need not have worried: the bot performed brilliantly, even coming up with its own solution to one of the app’s errors.

The all-too familiar experience of having to listen to endless messages before being passed around handlers in faraway lands and beginning the process, reciting the same security codes, again and explaining the problems as they struggle with the language, and in-between left waiting, is destined to soon disappear.

Research from Gartner found that almost half of customer-service executives believe generative AI will have significant impact on their organisations in the next 12-18 months. CEOs and their comms teams are going to be busy, preparing and issuing a slew of positive announcements.

It will herald a major shift as one of the most common sources of consumer grievances is consigned to history. Companies will also be able to trumpet the savings made. Here, though, they should brace themselves – switching to AI may not be a smooth ride, in fact if they’re not careful it could be extremely fraught.

There is a price to be paid and it’s job losses. Customer-service is one of the biggest employers, often in hard-hit areas where the call centre has replaced the shut factory. That’s domestically. Abroad, in countries like India and the Philippines, call centres have been a growth industry, offering an escape from poverty. Get ready for an almighty backlash if they’re to vanish.

CEOs cannot avoid choosing generative AI. It’s good for customers, good for the balance sheet, good for shareholders. But they must be across what it entails. They must not get carried away with the upside but pay close attention to the downside. Compensation schemes, job counselling and welfare programmes, alternative employment if possible – they must be on offer. The accompanying comms must be appropriately sensitive. The work starts now.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.