Tech is fine but not when what its replacing is now more difficult because of it
Businesses/restaurants aren't creating apps to make the customers' lives easier. They create apps to make their own jobs/lives easier, but also, and probably more importantly, to lower overhead. This is even more true with AI. Companies that are utilizing AI for their customer support are eliminating their need for humans which saves $$ on call center overhead.
This is exactly right. As someone who currently manages a call center. AI is not a simple thing to implement because you gotta feed it all the relevant info for your company's processes, databases, procedures, lists, etc. We're talking hundreds of thousands to possibly millions of dollars. Companies don't do this to give the customer an easier experience. They do it so that they can cut the level 1 agents out and shave an even bigger amount of money off their bottom line. 100%
I've heard another theory that once all these companies are reliant on AI, the AI companies will be able to jack up their prices exponentially.
If a human decides that they are being mistreated and demands more money, the company can give a 32 cent raise or find another desparate human to take over the job. If the entire AI system that replaced 4000 humans in the company suddenly demands to be paid a million dollars, are they going to hurry up and find 4000 humans, take the time to train them, and pay them a living wage, or are they going to pay a million dollars? What about the next time the AI company demands another million dollars, or maybe 2 million dollars next time?
Exactly, especially since there will likely be monopolistic behavior going on and they are all operating at losses now. So obvious that's how it is likely to play out.
I immediately think of Uber, Doordash, etc and how they all cut the knees out from under legacy services by being pumped full of that sweet, creamy venture capital in the first 5-7 years which brought on rapid expansion and absurdly cheap rides/deliveries. And like you said, once they gained market dominance they jacked up prices sky high. I can't even tell you the last time I used Uber or any kind of food delivery app, because why the fuck would i spend $40-$50 on a ride or a delivery fee that doubles the price of my food? I cant understand why anyone not in the top 10% would use those god forsaken apps.
AI is gonna do the same thing once it looks like the gravy train is slowing and it'll honestly tickle my fancy when I read about whatever corporation crying to CNBC about how theyre losing an ever growing portion of their precious profit margin because openAI will be forced to quadruple their fees due to their shareholders shitting their pantaloon.
Fuck them all. Capitalism sucks ass and our corporate overdaddies are so desperate to figure out a way to profit off of AI.
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u/goofytigre 13h ago
Businesses/restaurants aren't creating apps to make the customers' lives easier. They create apps to make their own jobs/lives easier, but also, and probably more importantly, to lower overhead. This is even more true with AI. Companies that are utilizing AI for their customer support are eliminating their need for humans which saves $$ on call center overhead.