Will AI replace call center workers?
Marketplace Tech
American Public Media
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since large language model chatbots hit the scene a few years ago, there’s been a lot of speculation about which jobs they might disrupt most. A lot of bets were on customer service. And recent data show they are becoming more common in the space. A Salesforce survey found a 42% increase in the share of shoppers who turned to AI-powered chatbots for customer service during the 2024 holiday shopping season compared to the previous year. But as AI becomes more powerful and more human-like, will AI voice agents become the norm, even for those more complicated customer cases now handled by human agents? The BBC’s Elizabeth Hotson looked into what a future of synthetic customer service might look like.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Please hold. An AI customer service bot will be with you shortly. From American Public Media, |
| 0:07.1 | this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. |
| 0:19.2 | Since large language model chatbots hit the scene a couple years ago, there's been a lot of |
| 0:24.6 | speculation about which jobs they might disrupt most. A lot of bets were on customer service. |
| 0:31.9 | And recent data show they are becoming more common in the space. A survey from Salesforce found a 42% increase in the |
| 0:40.6 | share of shoppers who turned to AI-powered chatbots for customer service during the 2024 |
| 0:46.2 | holiday shopping season compared to the previous year. But as AI becomes more powerful and more |
| 0:52.5 | human-like, will AI voice agents become the norm, |
| 0:56.6 | even for those more complicated customer cases now handled by human agents? |
| 1:01.7 | The BBC's Elizabeth Hudson looked into what a future of synthetic customer service might look like. |
| 1:08.2 | It's a familiar situation. You're trying to reach a customer service line and you hear |
| 1:12.9 | something like this. Hello, your call is important to us. You are number 89 in the queue. |
| 1:19.4 | But could AI provide a solution? Some companies are trying to cut down wait times by using voice |
| 1:25.7 | agents that can speak to you naturally, understand |
| 1:28.3 | what you're saying, and take action. |
| 1:30.5 | My name is Marbrett, and I'm a virtual voice agent. |
| 1:33.6 | This call may be recorded. |
| 1:35.4 | First of all, thank you for your business. |
| 1:37.4 | I see that you have a recent order with us. |
| 1:39.8 | Are you calling about your order or about something else? |
| 1:42.5 | Yeah, I'm just calling about my order. |
| 1:44.5 | That's Evan McMillan, the founder and CEO of GridSpace, demoing an AI-powered voice agent. |
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