“When automation swallows up jobs, it often comes for customer service roles first,” notes an article that was published last week in The New York Times as it examined the impact that artificial intelligence technology is having on individuals working in call centers across the country. Customer service jobs, of which there are about 3 million in America, are prime candidates to be overtaken by technology because of the automated nature of their jobs.
The article specifically focused on an individual working at a call center for AT&T in Mississippi, but within the context of what is happening across the country. Two-thirds of call center workers who were surveyed earlier this year said they felt it was somewhat or very likely that the increased use of artificial intelligence, chatbots, and other automation technology would lead to layoffs within the next two years.
Artificial intelligence is being used to generate transcripts of call between agents and consumers, obviating the need for agents to type up notes at the end of every call. Technology is even being used to make suggestions to agents about what to say during calls, based on how a conversation is progressing. While AT&T said that it is using AI to augment and assist its employees and that the company will always need humans to solve “complex customer situations,” it is making agents more efficient, which likely will mean the company won’t need as many humans answering the phones.
The technology doesn’t appear ready to start completely replacing humans yet. The service that AT&T uses to transcribes calls has a difficult time understanding the Southern drawls used by individuals in the Mississippi call center, and the transcripts are full of mistakes. With every call and every interaction that she has — all monitored and interlaced with artificial intelligence — the agent wonders if she all she is doing at the end of the day is training her replacement.
