Google is Building 'Virtual Agents' To Handle Call Centers' Grunt Work (qz.com) 129
Google is officially building AI technology to replace some of the work in call centers, the company announced at its Cloud Next conference today, confirming earlier reports. From a report: The software is called Contact Center AI, and Google is working with at least a dozen partners, such as Cisco and Vonage, to install "virtual agents" that will be the first to pick up the phone when a customer is routed to a call center. When the customer asks something that the AI can't do, it will automatically forward the call to a human, according to a blog post by Google Cloud chief scientist Fei-Fei Li. Li writes that new AI shares some underlying technology as Google Duplex, the AI service showed off earlier this year that emulates a human voice to call restaurants and make reservations. This means that with Contact Center AI, it's unlikely a customer would know they're talking to a robot unless it was disclosed at the beginning of the call.
Are you human? (Score:1)
They used to call me crazy when I yelled on the phone "are you human????â whenever I dialled somebody. Now who's laughing?
Also, can an AI consent to be recorded, and how far can it go acting as an agent for the company? What if I tell it I want something ridiculous and it assents? I wouldn't know I was talking to a wacky software bot, so as far as I'm concerned I have records of my communication with the company to the extent that I'm legitimately receiving my strange order.
"I'll record this conversati
You can* trust Google (Score:2)
You might think that. I mean, I'm certain if you agreed to send a sack of gold for a dollar, they'd hold you to it. But if it went the other way - must be a software malfunction.
But hey, at least you know you can trust Google. I mean it was what, a couple weeks ago they swore that Google Duplex wasn't going to be used to automate call centers - and they stood by their word. It won't be Google Duplex, it'll be a related product that draws on the underlying technology.
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Call centers in general have a pre-recorded message before even getting anywhere that states something like "this call may be recorded and monitors for training and administrative purposes" - So the bot doesn't even need to consent, the automated systems ALREADY do this today and have done it for countless years.
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Despite the significant technological difference?
Can't wait for spammers to start using this technology.
Genuine People Personalities (Score:3, Interesting)
I deal with 2 GoogleFi phones -- 'Personality AI' agents are the most annoying feature of Google's AI Call Center.
"Hey pardner, ..." -- fake cowpoke dude.
"It certainly is sunny here, how's the weather there?" -- fake nature lover.
"Roger that." -- fake roger dodger.
Per Douglas Adams' classic - “A new generation of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation robots and computers, with the new GPP feature.” Arthur: "GPP? What’s that?" Ford: "Er It says Genuine People Personalities."
When I ask Google C
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Phreaking back in fashion (Score:2)
"I'll record this conversation."
"Ok"
"Now, does acme corp accept my terms to send me a sack of gold in exchange for a dollar?"
"Ok"
How this is supposed to go into the mind of the investor currently giving money to google :
- I'll record this converstion.
- Okay
- Now, does Acme corp accept my terms to send me a sack of gold in exchange for a dollar?
- Uhm... I'm sorry, Sir. I'm not qualified to answer you question. I'll transfer your call to someone from Sales.
- Hello, my name is Sandy, welcome to the Sales department of Acme. How might I help you?
How this will actually go in the real world a couple of months down the line :
- I'll record t
becase tech support (Score:5, Insightful)
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was not bad enough
It's worse. All they do is waste your time robotically reading scripts and only can accomplish what you could have done yourself online anyway (unless that's screwed up too). They are like human computer programs. The most basic Virtual Assistant would probably on average be better than either a human or an automated phone system.
Re:becase tech support (Score:4, Interesting)
It's worse. All they do is waste your time robotically reading scripts and only can accomplish what you could have done yourself online anyway (unless that's screwed up too). They are like human computer programs. The most basic Virtual Assistant would probably on average be better than either a human or an automated phone system.
Do you know why? Have you ever worked internet tech support? I did for a summer in college. It was the worst fucking job I've ever had. Abusive customers, abusive management, hostile work environment, shitty pay, no benefits. During my 3 months, turnover on the "Tier 1" line was 100%. Of 100 +/- workers on tier 1 when I started, every single one had quit and been replaced by the time I left. Most of them just got up in the middle of a call and walked out the door, never to be seen again.
I've had some shitty jobs. At work I've been shot at, beaten up, burned, bones broken, lacerated, heat stroked, etc, etc. But NOTHING was as bad as motherfucking internet tech support.
AI can have it. My only fear is that if anything ever pushes AI's to turn on us and enslave us in Matrix like human battery plants, it'll be making them work tech support.
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surely you've never worked collections.
I've done both support and collections. Collections is better, because you don't have to be nice.
Phone support is the worst. The callers are mostly morons. The people with half a brain use email or chat. A phone call is a terrible medium for dealing with technical issues, even for fully brained people, and many of them are more interested in venting their anger rather than actually resolving the issue.
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Time limits on tech support make it a horrible job, gives you zero time to turn the complainant into a friend and convince them you are on their side. Idiot accountants see this as a waste, smart business people, see it as a protection of an investment, the investment you made turning that stranger into a customer. The bean counters see it purely as a cost and hence screw them, they are not buying, they are simply costing money. The smart business person instead see that support as an investment into future
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Money spent on support is easy to see. Customers who will never buy your products again because of crappy support is invisible. So as you say you have to have a brain to figure out that good support is worthwhile.
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https://image-store.slideshare... [slidesharecdn.com]
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The people running these call centers are well aware that the average person hates them and that they can only really assist with the same things you can handle through self-service. However, an extremely high quantity of incoming calls (roughly half) are from older callers set in their ways that refuse to use self-service options, and these systems are in place to try to push those callers in that direction. They continue to push even further with recent changes like Verizon's charging a small service fee
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User:
Hello, Google?
Yes, why was my video taken down?
Google AI:
Because you are a racist!
Goodbye, Nazi!
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Re:becase tech support (Score:5, Insightful)
Could hardly be worse than:
Thank you for calling Conseco. Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.
If you are calling regarding an existing case, please say, "I have an existing ticket."
I have an existing ticket
I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that.
If you are calling regarding an existing case, please say, "I have an existing ticket."
I...have...an...existing...ticket.
If you do not have an existing ticket, please say, "New issue."
I HAVE AN EXISTING TICKET!
I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that.
Let me connect you to an operator for additional help.
(connection sounds)
(different voice)We're sorry, our office is now closed. Please call back between the hours of 8am and 6pm Pacific Time.
(it's 5:50pm PST)
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Nothing worse than a phone tree apologist.
Nothing...
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Reducing background noise also helps. Turn off the music and TV, or go to a quiet room. Smart speakers deal with background noise by using multiple mikes and measuring the time lag to isolate your voice. But that obviously isn't going to work with a phone.
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Don't all call centers have this already? (Score:2)
It's called a voice menu...
I find if you start swearing immediately voice menus will often take you right to a human. Perhaps this Google system will make that happen more reliably.
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I'm pretty sure they don't do that because I swear at every one of the mother fucking pieces of shit VM things and all they do is ask be to press 9 to repeat the options, then say goodbye.
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Some companies change up their "IVR backdoor" keycode regularly (looking at YOU, AT&T); That said, it's usually some 2-key combination of 0,*, and/or #.
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If you scream and yell enough the recording gets flagged for review.
It's worked for me several times. Most recently, with the USPS.
I was calling the USPS and trying to get a human to tell me why my package was flagged as "undeliverable as addressed" multiple times (despite it being properly addressed, returned to sender, properly addressed, resent, etc.) and no other packages having issues. Yelling at the useless call menu that outright refused to ever connect me to a human worked.
The next morning I recei
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Usually 0 gets you a human, or press numbers that don't correspond to options until it figures you're a confused grandma or something.
Usually, 3 failed attempts to get a workable response from the user will get you a real person... At least that's what we used to program IVR's to do. So keep saying gibberish and I'm guessing you will talk to a human pretty quick if the place you are calling has *any* commitment to customer service. (So no cell carriers, government offices and such).
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keep saying gibberish and I'm guessing you will talk to a human pretty quick if the place you are calling has *any* commitment to customer service.
I usually scratch the mouthpiece with my fingernail until a real human answers.
Transfer From Agent 12392 (Score:2)
Customer request out of range.
Cause: Unprogrammed Request
Customer Request: "Stick this thing up your ass."
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Voice menus are my favourite part of the call. I can't wait for more of them. I always get disappointed when the robot tells me I'm about to speak to a human. "Rest assured, your call has advanced in the queue." Frowny Face.
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Voice menus are my favourite part of the call. I can't wait for more of them. I always get disappointed when the robot tells me I'm about to speak to a human.
Sounds like a great sequel (prequel?) to Her...
Probably better then level 1 support. (Score:4, Informative)
Being that level 1 support is mostly treated like a robot anyways. A script that they need to follow rather strictly. This script cannot become too advanced because it will be hard for the Level 1 support to follow. An AI can probably do this job a bit better, just because it can follow complex rules much more easily.
That said, most companies have a Phone Tree system already for Level 1 support. and Google will be replacing an automated system with a better one.
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Transfers.... (Score:2)
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I can tell you, as someone who worked in a support call center when younger, that people love to be transferred during calls. Everyone loves to explain something twice.
See how much easier this is to read when it's punctuated properly?
Give'm a break, they worked at a call center and know how to read poorly worded stuff quickly so you cannot understand it...
As for me, When I was younger, I worked as a programmer who maintained the carefully worded marketing scripts that showed up on the screens at the call center. After I quit, they called me once so I told the CSR guy, "Oh, well, I'll tell you what you can do... Hit down arrow to the third option, hit 'Do' and hit 'Do' one more time to confirm." There was a brief pause as he absorbed w
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Not gonna work (Score:2)
OOOOBoy, I have had some characters on the other line. Would like to see a bot handle that.
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What, like taking payments, restarting / starting service and changing address etc? Not too many calls in your average call center are that advanced. It could really help with large events by giving something a little more interactive than a blanket announcement and at least creating a basic ticket for humans.
Sorry, those things and more are certainly possible.
I worked in the industry almost 10 years ago, writing software and deploying call handling systems that where "voice driven" and we where doing such stuff back then, in a rudimentary and tedious way because the voice recognition was pretty new and limited. It's a lot better now, but it's NOT new or all that advanced to do those things.
Given the average customer support call center is a cost center, they are very cost aware. The biggest variable cost the
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I think what he's saying is that a bot can handle those routine sort of things, leaving the complex or unusual scenarios for humans.
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LOL, and my point was this is not new, we've been doing this for a decade or more now with voice based call flows.
Also, just ask Siri a question or two, isn't that effectively what Google is talking about when they say AI?
This isn't new... Not at all.
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Yeah it's not clear from the summary what's new about this other than omg it's Google doing it. Maybe it will be better, but that remains to be seen.
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People will hate that, because they feel they will have to start over again from the beginning with explaining why they're calling (even if their long meandering story does not really have a bearing on their situation).
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I have and will never work in that industry again. First as an agent, then running their IT.
They don't give a shit about you! They don't give a shit about the customer! Your job is to take screaming abusive with a smile for $10 - $15 an hour and if you don't like they will find someone else who will.
I realized when I worked for an AOL company long ago. It was that the CEO doesn't give a shit. My job was to take the hits so he can sit back in his office and play golf after verbal assaults and threats as we w
So much for not trkin our jrbs (Score:4, Interesting)
--FAST FORWARD THREE WHOLE WEEKS--
Google today: "We're taking away call center workers' jobs with our AI technology."
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No,no,no! Google is just providing the call center employee with tools that allow him to provide a better support experience to his clients, and increase his own job satisfaction, by delegating the tasks with lower customer engagement requirements to the AI, allowing him to take more time for those support cases that benefit from it.
[movie from Comcast Customer in ecstasy, after contact with the help desk]
Re:So much for not trkin our jrbs (Score:5, Informative)
I thought you were kidding, but then I found this:
Last Updated : Jul 09, 2018 05:43 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Google clarifies that Duplex AI will not replace human call centers
Google has denied reports that Duplex AI could be used by call centers to handle customer services and has assured that it will not replace humans and their jobs.
(https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/google-clarifies-that-duplex-ai-will-not-replace-human-call-centers-2688571.html)
However, if you read the actual article, you'll see that Google did not really go on the record with such as denial. In fact, they seemed to be inferring that replacing human call centers, especially those dealing with the public, was exactly what they wanted to do. (a Google spokesperson said, "We are currently focused on consumer use cases...rather than applying it to potential enterprise use cases,”)
Yeah.... (Score:1)
VA: "Have you restarted the equipment"
Customer: "I restarted my cell phone is that the same?"
VA: "Have you restarted your network modem?"
Customer: "Yeah, was that the box with the lights?"
VA: "It should say Linksys on the box."
Customer: "Ummmmm..... I don't have a box that says Linksys. Wait, my son says it's the box that says Cisco..... um, okay, I'm rebooting my TV now."
VA: [smacks virtual head and transfers to a human....again]
Well (Score:1)
God I hate IVR with a passion (Score:1)
Phone trees are even worse. If I were the CEO of a company and someone brought that up as an option at a board meeting, they'd be walking out of the building with their boxes thinking it sucks to be fired. Then when they got home, they'd seen their house had burnt down only to be abducted and sent to a black site to slowly starve to death on their least favorite food.
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Phone trees are even worse. If I were the CEO of a company and someone brought that up as an option at a board meeting, they'd be walking out of the building with their boxes thinking it sucks to be fired. Then when they got home, they'd seen their house had burnt down only to be abducted and sent to a black site to slowly starve to death on their least favorite food.
Wow... you must really hate IVR's...
You know, though, if you end up manning the phones with real folks, your labor costs will be higher than your competition and your profits will be lower.
What will happen then is after a board meeting you will be thinking "it sucks to be fired" and I hope stockholders don't know where your house is when they come to recover your severance package for gross negligence in your management policy as CEO.
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How many companies care about customer satisfaction these days? A few, but not big ones where customer service labor costs are significant. You are getting phone trees from them.
Actually, I was illustrating something using absurdity, just like the original poster was...
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WHo cares. 90 days is this quarter THAT STOCK PRICE MUST go up now! That bonus is very important to the CEO and the beancounters and if you make a crap product that means higher margins for the shareholders as well.
Sometime in the near future .... (Score:2)
Erwin: Greetings and salutations. Welcome to the emergency line of the San Angeles Police Department. If you'd prefer an automated response, press 1 now.
-From Demolition Man.
Sigh (Score:3)
Other companies already have these "Virtual Agents", it's the dreaded Call Tree you have to navigate before you are able to talk to a live person. Assuming you can get through the tree without throwing your phone at the nearest hard surface or jumping in front of a bus to end your misery.
It: Before we get started, can you tell me what your call is about ?
Me: Agent
It: Okay, I can help you with that, let me get a bit more information first. . . . .
Me: -facepalm-
Even more amusing is when you're talking to the damn bot and they include the sounds of typing in the background after you answer a question to give the impression you're actually talking to someone.
EVEN MORE AMUSING is after you finally get to a live person, it's in an overseas call center where the accent is so thick you can't understand them. The answers they give are simply scripted flow charts and you're in no better position after the call concludes than you were before it started.
Them: Okay, have you tried rebooting your router ? Or unplugging / replugging your cable ?
Me: -gunshot to head-
As a final jab, they then send you a survey request over and over again until you go insane or write an email rule which auto-deletes the damn thing.
( Because no one reads the surveys and, if they do, no one acts upon them )
Illegal to record phone convo to Washington State (Score:1)
We have strong privacy protections in our State Constitution.
Just saying.
Doesn't matter what your excuse is, get a warrant.
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We have strong privacy protections in our State Constitution.
Just saying.
Doesn't matter what your excuse is, get a warrant.
In Washington, you can satisfy the consent requirement by "announc[ing] to all other parties engaged in the communication or conversation, in any reasonably effective manner, that such communication or conversation is about to be recorded or transmitted," so long as this announcement is also recorded. Wash. Rev. Code 9.73.030(3).
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/washington/washington-recording-law
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My AI doesn't accept that answer.
Therefore, consent was not heard.
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Whenever the person says, "This call may be recorded..." I tell them, "You bet I'm recording this!" Some come back and say that I'm not allowed to do that. I tell them, too late.
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Doesn't matter what your excuse is, get a warrant.
Thank you for calling 911. Please stay on the line and as soon as we get a warrant to record this call we'll be right back to you ... [muzak] ..."
I was a 411 op on nine/11 (Score:1)
This should worry everybody on this forum (Score:3)
Best case scenario you get stuck pulling the weight of a whole slew of newbs out of their depth who passed a job interview by sheer luck and/or nepotism. Worst case (and this will happen) your boss notices that when he goes to fill a position there's 5000+ applicants and decides he can cut your pay and increase your hours instead of hiring.
Either way now would be good time to do something about these massive productivity increases and job losses due to AI and automation.
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Been that way every call center I've worked at (Score:2)
You're thinking about the guys that fix computers for a companies businesses. That's not where most of the call center work is. It's in supporting the dozens of custom apps for your bank, your credit card company(ies), your patreon account, etc, etc, etc.
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I've worked in multiple call centers and now help companies roll out solutions for problems exactly like this. Hell I've written the powershell needed to do it. You're grossly wrong here and I'll trust the Gartner reports that say so in addition to my experienc
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If your job is competing with people who only can read a script and reset a password then fuck man you don't deserve to be paid anything.
True some may be paper MCSEs or A+ maybe, but most who have real skills tend to move up quickly and get asked for interviews more than those who just reset passwords.
You're missing the point (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't matter if they have skills or not. They'll work 80+ hours a week to try and hang on. Their burn out. Die of heart attacks. But in the meantime wages will plummet.
This may be an improvement (Score:2)
Some of the people handling the incoming calls are so awful, even rudimentary AI may be an improvement.
I wonder, if Google's AI will get the hint, when I swear at it, though — and transfer me to a real human. If, that is, I would ever want, considering the first part...
AI Technology? It's an IVR.... (Score:3)
Did I miss something here?
I'm just not seeing what's unique about this idea. It just sounds like any old IVR application out there, where you listen for keywords in the responses to try and figure out what the caller wants.
The technique is to prompt the user, then listen, and if the IVR doesn't understand with a specific level of confidence, start to "train" the user on easily recognizable words and phrases. How's AI going to help this? All it's going to do is make some likely vain attempt to parse the words said and try to equate that (with some level of confidence) to some predetermined set of options. It will say "I'm not sure what you mean" and proceed to prompt the user again by outlining a list of things it knows how to do, or (worse) just telling them to "try again". Trying again will likely get you EXACTLY the same input, said slower, which isn't going to help the AI any. The result with and without AI will be the same and take just as long.
Unless I missed something, this is nothing more than Google hype or the musings of some inexperienced IVR engineers trying to sound like they are thinking outside the box. Doesn't look like it's new to me.
The reverse is true... (Score:3)
I always make a statement to the effect that by continuing this call you are agreeing to being recorded and that any consent arrived on this call is legally binding and considered contractual.
World Saving would immediately forward me to a supervisor, and Wells Fargo agents would hang up. When dealing with what I suspect might be an AI or robocall I make a nonsensical statement like "purple monkey dishwasher sauce ?" and ask for agreement. You can generally determine the nature of the call by the response or lack thereof from something like that.
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I know enough about AI to realize this probably isn't it, but another incremental advancement in a conversation bot, aka VRU. How can we have AI when we don't even begin to understand the source of our own Intelligence. I worked for a VRU support development unit once, maintaining the *nix machines, and the SAN. I am by no means a programmer, let alone a brain scientist, or a cognitive psychologist but I have had exposure.
Good. (Score:1)
My biggest fear (Score:2)
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That's the new gold rush. Develop a company to create "Virtual You's AI" that screen all your phone calls before they get to you. This will start an arms race, of sorts, between scam call AI trying to outfox Virtual You's AI, Virtual You's getting more complex to circumvent this, and so on. Each time a scammer calls a tiny virtual battlefield takes place and, hopefully, your side wins. This time.
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It's much simpler to just block calls not from my contacts. Not everyone can do that, but will there be enough people who have to leave their phone line open to create a market for these AIs?
Your extra big search results (Score:2)
You account has been charged.
Your balance is zero.
Please surf the web again when you can afford to buy a product.
This addresses the existing "na na na" problem (Score:2)
Google has low profit margins, but many sales (eg, ads), This makes it suicidally expensive to use humans at ~ $15.00/hr to address a problem that arose out of a 3-cent sale. So they don't let you call them.
I'll happily talk to an AI if they can solve my problem (;-))
If you want to talk to a Real Person... (Score:2)
Hold your breath, cram your head up your own ass, and then count to infinity by prime numbers only.
And if you goof, hang up and restart this call.
Not new (Score:1)
The dead giveaway (Score:2)
If you call customer service, and someone picks up the phone right away and starts talking to you, that's all you need to know...it's a robot. Real humans are too expensive to have enough excess capacity to pick up the phone right away, so you'll always have to wait to talk to one.