Editorial
Meet Jane, the artificial intelligence (AI) bot that was pitched to Radium council recently.
She is empathetic and super nice, but needs a little work as does any emerging technology. Oh, and she’s as funny as Amy Schumer on a bad day. When asked how to get information on short-term rentals (many residents’ favourite topic), or what to do if you see an injured animal, she replied, “I totally understand, what can I help you with?”
You can’t blame her because she’s new; a prototype. But with the right tweaking, Jane can be very efficient and save the village a lot of money, not to mention “revolutionize” its customer service.
But that’s where many people would disagree, referring to the dehumanization of society. Over the years we have lost that human touch, that human interaction that makes us who we are. Remember when you could dial a business or agency number and get a human voice right away? What bliss. That was customer service. Now, you have to wade through a myriad of options and listen to horrible music while you wait for a humanoid to direct you to someone else.
People don’t want robots (no offence, Jane). They want living, breathing Homo sapiens to help them with their questions. How many times have you hung up in frustration while trying to get service? Lost count, eh?
While AI can definitely free up staff time and save the municipality money, it can by no means be considered real customer service, the kind that makes us instantly happy.
On the other side of the coin, however, it’s hard to beat ‘Hey Google’ when you want instant information.
In this world of constantly changing technology and innovation, AI has its place in many applications, but it shouldn’t be used to replace humans in customer service. This may be ‘old school’ thinking but who would you rather talk to, a monotone robot (no offence, Jane) or someone with a real voice and real feelings?
Lyonel Doherty, editor
