> Companies are now trying to divert support requests into chats with LLMs
More than trying they are doing it very successfully and for a long time now
I do agree things can still get 10x worse than even the current state though
> When you talk to a person, there’s a “there” there—someone who, if you’re patient and polite, can actually understand what’s going on
I've found they have been trained to be machine-like for many years now and not actually help. They focus on empathy and understanding and caring about your needs...and diverting your attention away from actually resolving the issue. Here's an example recently I experienced:
I complained to my bank about how they show refunds on the app. I got a call from a lovely sounding lady who used a comforting tone to ask if I had any special needs she needs to be aware of so she can "provide extra support" .
At beginning I made it clear I'm not chasing a particular refund but rather raising a specific complaint about how refunds are shown in the app. 4 times she mentioned a specific refund assuring me that it's been refunded, ignoring everything I said at the beginning. She explained how refunds work. She explained how pending transactions work (all off topic). She explained 3 times about how they can't (won't) create a feedback loop and begged my permission to close off the complaint, saying she hopes I can understand.
That was all a very dressed up "I'll pass your feedback to the PM. Thanks" but it was whole ridiculous long phone call trying to make me feel "heard" and I came away feeling like a 15 year old