Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI • Hacker News Board

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#561

Post by fragmede » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 12:51 AM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #554

fragmede wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how you want a disabled person to go to the store themselves when they're physically unable to walk, but where services are convenient for the able-bodied and minded, they're literally lifeblood for the disabled. Modern society can be avoided by those with that privilege, but for the rest of us, it's the one we've got.

It takes privilege to be able to afford those luxuries that I can assure you many disabled individuals cannot afford. Those without get by with help from others. Cabs are more popular with the disabled over Uber because the driver will get out and help seeking a better tip. Calling a restaurant vs using UberEats app is easier for some types of disabilities and easier for the elderly. Many disabled can go shopping or…

> It takes privilege to be able to afford those luxuries

As someone who's able to afford those luxuries because of a software engineer's salary, it does. The disability welfare system exists though. It has its problems; not being able to have more than $2,000 in a bank account forces people into a very learned helplessness even with the support of friend and family. Those government services are starting to subcontract to those platforms because whatever. If you can walk, an Uber to the hospital is better than an ambulance. So at least for me, it doesn't make it a wasteland to be avoided. I'd be dead several times over if it weren't for the miracle of modern medicine and have been blessed with good fortune, so maybe I have more reasons to be grateful to it than you, but, well, it's the one I got.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#562

Post by lynchdt » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 7:01 AM UTC

dreamcompiler wrote: post #446

After a recent horrible experience with JetBlue customer service, it has become obvious to me that the true purpose of all "customer service" at major companies is not "solve the customer's problem" but "make the customer go away." This seems to be true regardless of whether humans or robots are involved. If humans are involved they will be low-paid hourly workers on the other side of the planet, staring at the same…

I mostly agree with this. If you observe the KPI set used to run support teams, especially with large inbound you will see NPS used as a proxy for quality of resolution but folks mostly don’t respond to those prompts.

More interesting to support team managers are things like deflection rate (didn’t get to an agent) involvement rate (needed an agent) and eventually resolution rate (resolved issue). The last one in the absence of feedback is only a very weak proxy for a resolved issue.

If you consider customer support a cost center, you can guess how managers would optimize these numbers.

I don’t necessarily think there is much wrong with this - having a good product with excellent design, build and proactive support (docs, manuals, walkthroughs, proactive comms) - is likely very good for both customers and the business serving them.

Re: Shopify employee breaks NDA to reveal firm replacing laid off workers with AI

#563

Post by jonwest » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 10:28 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #387

jonwest wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the lowest earning employees on the totem pole is a bit of an easy scapegoat for high costs when executives make an exponential amount in comparison. I understand that if they weren’t in grocery they could be making similar amounts in another industry—my argument is more that the disparity between employee and executive is too great, regardless of industry.

> Walmart Inc.'s chief executive earned $24.1 million in fiscal 2023, according to a government filing. Even if we assume only 3 cashiers (x3 for daily shifts) at the 4,630 Walmarts in the USA, and they make only $10 an hour, that's still $150 million a year. Automating the CEO would save more money per person replaced, but the cashiers still are a total larger dollar group.

That may be true, but you're talking about the livelihood of 14,000 people versus a single person. That's an accurate, but misleading comparison.