[crazygringo]

Actually, I do.

There's no wait in line. There's no waiting 2 min for each response in chat, or waiting 5 min on hold while the rep figures out what to do. And I've, shockingly, gotten issues resolved faster and better.

Using one semi-popular consumer app -- once it pointed me to docs on their site that Google wasn't finding because I didn't know what keywords to use. And twice it escalated me to send a message to the relevant team, where I got a response that addressed my problem -- and where escalation would have been necessary with a human call-center rep anyways.

The point is that it was far, far faster than any chat rep OR phone rep. And it's far faster to escalate too.

I'm sure this experience isn't universal, but I've been truly shocked at how it's turned what are otherwise 15-20 minute interactions into 3 minute interactions. At the same level of quality or better.

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Then you get situations like this one where the AI invented a non existent policy (which the airline did not want to honor)

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/air-canada-must-...

[shawnz]

There's a non-zero chance that real humans working as customer service agents will invent facts, too (whether to try and be helpful about something they're not completely sure, or just to get a problematic customer to leave them alone)

[0cf8612b2e1e]

Humans get things wrong, but are less likely to generate novel facts.

[razakel]

I've recently encountered one that just sends you in a loop, and there is literally no way to actually speak to a real person. Unless you want to give them more money; they're very responsive in that case.

This is a billion-dollar company you have definitely heard of.

[hkxer]

Why don't you just name the company?

[teqsun]

I'm guessing Amazon?

[ant6n]

Definitely Amazon

[razakel]

Legal reasons.

(It's not Amazon.)

[burnte]

I've had exactly one AI chatbot point me to the right documents. All the other interactions were exercises in frustration, and I've canceled more than one product due to shitty AI support. When I have a question, if an automated system could handle it, I wouldn't have a question.

[arrowsmith]

I would if the AI chatbot could ever actually answer my question, but the conversation ALWAYS goes like this:

Bot: Welcome! Please tell me what you'd like help with.

Me: how do I X?

Bot: Please choose an option: [list of irrelevant things].

Me: None, I need to do X.

Bot: Okay, please try [instructions copy-pasted from the docs].

Me: I already read the documentation and it didn't answer my question, that's why I'm here.

Bot: I'm sorry, I don't know how to help.

Me: Can I speak to a human?

Bot: Welcome! Please tell me what you'd like help with.

[brnt]

There's also no useful output whatsoever if you actually tried any troubleshooting yourself.

Never has a chatbot been of help to me.