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Google is Building 'Virtual Agents' To Handle Call Centers' Grunt Work (qz.com)
Google is officially building AI technology to replace some of the work in call centers, the company announced at its Cloud Next conference today, confirming earlier reports. From a report: The software is called Contact Center AI, and Google is working with at least a dozen partners, such as Cisco and Vonage, to install "virtual agents" that will be the first to pick up the phone when a customer is routed to a call center. When the customer asks something that the AI can't do, it will automatically forward the call to a human, according to a blog post by Google Cloud chief scientist Fei-Fei Li. Li writes that new AI shares some underlying technology as Google Duplex, the AI service showed off earlier this year that emulates a human voice to call restaurants and make reservations. This means that with Contact Center AI, it's unlikely a customer would know they're talking to a robot unless it was disclosed at the beginning of the call.
Being that level 1 support is mostly treated like a robot anyways. A script that they need to follow rather strictly. This script cannot become too advanced because it will be hard for the Level 1 support to follow. An AI can probably do this job a bit better, just because it can follow complex rules much more easily.
That said, most companies have a Phone Tree system already for Level 1 support. and Google will be replacing an automated system with a better one.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
>> Google 3 weeks ago: "Don't worry we're not planning on using our AI technology to put call center workers out of their jobs."
I thought you were kidding, but then I found this:
Last Updated : Jul 09, 2018 05:43 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Google clarifies that Duplex AI will not replace human call centers
Google has denied reports that Duplex AI could be used by call centers to handle customer services and has assured that it will not replace humans and their jobs.
(https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/google-clarifies-that-duplex-ai-will-not-replace-human-call-centers-2688571.html)
However, if you read the actual article, you'll see that Google did not really go on the record with such as denial. In fact, they seemed to be inferring that replacing human call centers, especially those dealing with the public, was exactly what they wanted to do. (a Google spokesperson said, "We are currently focused on consumer use cases...rather than applying it to potential enterprise use cases,”)