Most of us are well aware that AI bots will be doing more and more things that people used to do. But today I was shocked to get my email inquiry concerning a refund answered by a customer service AI bot in about two minutes — and about as well and “caringly” as most human customer service reps can do, at least following their current guidelines.
That’s the truth. And also the scary part. Customer service reps often pull their responses from pre-written scripts without much leeway. And so training an AI bot to look up and access those same scripts does not take much of a leap. They may even be given more leeway to interact using a warmer tone to help overcome AI fears. Here’s how this particular bot added a “human” touch with me:
Actual Bot Email Sign-off
[Company Name] Support Bot
I’m new here and still learning!
Powered by AI and supervised by real humans.
What does this mean for jobs?
I’ve done a bit of nosing around the AI bot scene to see what some versions available now can do. And rest assured they will be far more advanced as time goes on. My experience with this one customer service AI bot points to the way things are moving. Except for companies who buck the trend and stay all human, of course.
As someone who enjoys writing short fiction stories, I was shocked by how warm and sweet a ChatGPT story was with only some minimal plot prodding from me. Anyone who thinks the work product of those bots won’t rival what many humans can produce is kidding themselves. And I’m not just talking customer service bots!
Ironically, as you see in the email sign-off above, they are being trained to sound friendly and oh so accessible. The idea is for you to feel so well cared for and helped that you won’t miss humans. An email response that is totally helpful within two minutes is not what our human reps have been able to handle, no fault of their own.
And this AI source of efficiency plus quality (still arguable as errors do happen at present) is appealing to many companies since it saves staffing costs while providing productivity gains. Customer service AI bots and so many others will replace real live humans, and that’s not good news. But there are fields that will also buck that trend.
So who gets hurt & who gets helped?
Well, unfortunately my crystal ball is in the repair shop. But I imagine that one of the first casualties of this AI revolution will be jobs like customer service jobs — which make great entry level jobs or jobs for people returning to work after a gap. Other entry level or easily-trainable jobs likely to dry up are entry-level sale, writing, and editing jobs, ticket agents, and even brokerage clerks.
For more predictions (with or without a crystal ball) here is a list of most threatened jobs from a Fortune magazine article. And some least threatened. Note that the article discusses why in many fields college grads may actually be getting the worst of it. But fear not … Water Treatment plant operators should be fine. Comforting.
⇒ What Are the Jobs Most Exposed to AI?
On the who is safest side, here’s a hopeful list from the U.S. Career Institute. Some of the fields they mention are:
Health Care: Nurses, doctors, therapists, and counselors.
Education: Teachers, instructors, and school administrators.
Creative: Musicians, artists, writers, and journalists.
Personal Services: Hairdressers, cosmetologists, personal trainers, and coaches.
For the rest of their list:
⇒ Top 65 Safest Jobs from AI and Robot Automation
By the way … they don’t include receptionists on the list, but my guess is we’ll be craving human interaction even more as the AI world evolves. And since reception roles may also expand, perhaps receptionists will finally get the credit (and dollars) they have long deserved.
⇒ Why Are Receptionists Undervalued (and Underpaid)?
So are customer service AI bots taking over?
Well, I would guess a lot of customer service jobs will disappear. But there should still be a need for human interaction, both at the company’s problem resolution end and keeping those newly oh-so-critical bots up to date. Even if skills needed change, humans in that field shouldn’t completely disappear. Still, odds are many jobs will vanish. But thankfully some will be born.
Human computer coders. once thought threatened, may have a whole new AI coding and support field open up to them. And other jobs never before imagined will inevitably show up. Plus the rapid data-processing and analysis (once perfected) could be a boon to medicine, research and many other fields.
Admittedly not for everyone, but here are some AI-related jobs that could become challenging and enjoyable careers of the future for some:
⇒ 10 New Jobs Created By AI
And so people will need to think about “what else?” when it comes to their career. And, the biggest surprise may be a shift from the must-have of a college degree to many more people seeking out trade or specialty schools … and whatever else this revolution may add to the new crop of jobs.
Meanwhile, hold on tight because as much as we humans do not embrace change easily, things are going to be shifting in the world of work and beyond!
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