I’m not quite sure how to put this into words, but this week I’ve been feeling that AI is (not slowly!!!) taking over my job.
Clients are asking fewer questions because our AI assistants are already answering them. And that’s a good thing, isn’t it? That’s what these tools are supposed to do. They help people find answers faster, and they can handle questions that would once have landed in our support inbox.
But there is another side to it.
Our personal touch is still there. We still care about our clients, their experience, and the relationship we have built with them. We are still here when things get complicated or when someone needs more than just an answer.
Except… sometimes it feels as if there is no client left to give that personal touch to.
After 80 days away from work, this has become the hardest part of returning. Not the meetings, not the new AI tools, not even trying to remember everything I used to know. It is trying to find my place! Understanding where I (as a person and professional) fit into a job that seems to be changing while I’m still trying to catch up.
I don’t want to make assumptions or speculate about what this means for my role, my team, or the future of support. I know that things are not always as they first appear, and I’m probably seeing only a small part of a much bigger picture.
But IT is changing by the minute! What was useful yesterday might be automated tomorrow. And while I can see the benefits of AI, I also find myself wondering what happens to the people whose jobs are changing because of it.
For now, I’m just trying to find my footing again. To understand what is expected of me, where I can contribute, and how to feel useful in this new reality.
I suppose returning to work after 80 days was never going to be as simple as opening my laptop and picking up where I left off.
The world had kept moving while I was away. And now I need to figure out where I belong in it. Hard.
Ilze
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Well now. I am quite (very) cynical about AI. I do understand that it has benefits, but in my view is not strictly enough regulated. I won’t go into full rant mode, but I do get where you are coming from. Yeah.
Oops. That was me, Mandy (beencalledsonic).
I do not like AI one lick, Ilze. It’s dangerous and could easily get out of human control. Being 65 I have a different view of this technology than a much younger person. I hope that you find your footing again soon. 🙏🏻
It (all “its” including IT) is hard or harder now. The changes have been like firing a shotgun into a flock of birds and watching them scatter–if they were fortunate, otherwise, there they are in a mess on the ground for nothing. Sometimes, it is impossible to fathom–at least when you are my age, having lived through the post WWII era and all the changes since then.
I agree with the above. I’m also concerned that IT doesn’t always give correct information, and can be misleading. Handle with care! Lots of jobs are disappearing, and it isn’t necessarily a satisfactory subsitute.
Divas lietas man palidz lietojot AI viens ir atrodot atbildes do man vajaga and otrs is tas ko es varu lietot parbaurdit vai man rakstisana ir pareizi veidota un saprotama un tas ir par brivu un loti man palidz veidot savu raskstisanu.
I understand your feelings and questions. AI is changing the world realy quickly. 80 days used to be …. well, two and a half months, no big deal, but in IT-days they can feel like ten years. I hope you’ll be back in your own rhythm soon and that you cope with a possible new workflow and/or find yourself a way into modern times.
Ideally, in the case of call centres and similar AI can do a good job of filtering out and handling the obvious interactions and passing on the ones that need a skilled person to sort out. However, that statement raises a number of issues: How do the skilled people get skilled without learning by handling the easier questions to build those skills? Is there a capability for the caller to bypass the AI and go to a person when the AI only “thinks” it has answered the problem (in my experience, no – the AI was unable to understand that I had tried its suggestion and it wasn’t working)? How about the people who don’t know the questions to ask and it takes the flexibility of a person discussing the situation with them to sort out the real problem?
It is a similar system with the job I have just retired from in IT. Part of my job was to sort out what the various business users needed from a new system. Yes an AI could ask about their needs, but how would it negotiate a solution to conflicting needs from different departments? could it read body language to tell when people were saying what the boss wanted them to say rather than what they really knew? How well could it lead them on a journey of discovery of what they really need in the new AI world rather than just recording what the say they want based on their limited understanding of the possibilities?
Yes AI is very good for some things, like advanced pattern matching in scientific data, driving a car under normal conditions (I would not expect an AI to be able to drive my 4WD through a challenging track as well as I can), summarising internet information in response to a query (but not spotting obvious flaws), etc.
The scary thing is that it is a tool being taught what to do and how to behave by people who love the tool and its possibilities and are imbuing it with a fair degree of arrogance that it is right. This is then supported by management that sees AI as a way to get rid of people and save money.
It’s so easy to feel like the world sped up while you were away, but your instinct to care about the human relationship behind the screen is precisely what AI can never replicate.
Being 65, I see AI as another threat to human interaction. I worked in customer service for 45+ years and it is certainaly a lost art. Hubby and I were recently on a driving vacation trip for 2 weeks and one of the hotels texted and said something to the affect: “please let us know when you are leaving and you can leave your keys in the room.” I was like no way, I just spent $150.00 to spend the night here, I damn sure am going to get some human interaction. When I went to the front desk to check out, there were 3 employees there talking, and one of them said, “Oh, checking out? Just leave your key here.” That was it. No, “Thanks for staying with us, How was your stay? Have a nice day. It kind of pissed me off. I’ve been coming to this same hotel for 16 years, and honestly, the next time I drive through that town, I will probably try somewhere else. I kind of feel like those Progressive commercials about “becoming your parents”. I now understand some of the things they did and why! Your are doing great and you know why? Because you care. AI can never care.
“AI can never care” . . . To quote a friend whose whole career was in developing AI “Very artificial and not at all intelligent”. It is just very sophisticated pattern-matching, but the scary part is that the attributes of what makes a match, and the biases it places on data are “taught”. I saw on YouTube, and have tried myself giving ChatGPT a contract text blind and getting an answer saying how good it was, then resetting and giving it the same text stating I have just received this, don’t trust it and what to know what is missing or questionable and got a totally different reply saying how bad it was. AI is also a good liar.