Re: Squawk!
"I'm sorry but without the number I can't access your account".....And that wasn't even a fucking 'bot.
Arguably it was. A meatbot.
That's what happens when companies design close-walled processes that mean call centre agents can only deal within a very restricted range of options, without properly considering the range of potential needs. No amount of AI is going to solve that - in practice all that will ever happen will be that the company sees "AI" as cost cutting exercise, and they will bolt a shoddy voice recognition front end on to the same process and scripts that the company previously gave to human operators.
A big part of the problem here is that in general the vast majority of us choose services on cost, often simply clicking on the lowest priced offer on a price comparison website. For a business, increasing your costs to provide better service pushes you off the first page of the PCW, and you lose business. The evidence is also clear that better service doesn't reduce churn, so you're not compensated by better retention. Many, many people will earnestly say that they will pay more for better customer service, but the number actually willing to do so is tiny - my last employer's CEO got the boot for a failed "differentiation through superior service" strategy.
In this context, AI is merely the same over-hyped, under-delivering garbage, touted by charlatans that it is in most other situations. The only economically viable way to offer better customer service is not automation and AI, it is a two tier model of free "regular" customer service, and charged-for premium customer service - but most customers object bitterly to that, and in several industries regulators wouldn't permit it.