CEO lays off 23 of 26 of support staff in favor of AI

cyu@sh.itjust.worksbanned from community to Technology@lemmy.world – 258 points – An e-commerce CEO is getting absolutely roasted online for laying off 90% of his support staff after an AI chatbot outperformed them
businessinsider.com

In similar case, US National Eating Disorder Association laid off entire helpline staff. Soon after, chatbot disabled for giving out harmful information.

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My recommendation for anyone, but especially IT, is to learn how to use LLMs as they will be pervasive before you know it.

Better idea: stop doing business with companies that do this.

Not everybody will announce they are doing this, so you wouldn't know.

You're right, I guess we just shouldn't try. We should probably just let corporations do whatever they want with no meaningful pushback and keep making our lives worse.

Why? I am not condoning the 90% decision - but, why not start figuring out ways to implement and improve whatever you are working with? There are alt to figure out about AI and what to use it for - ant not to use it for. But total abstinence it’s like choosing not to use the internet to search for knowledge that could be useful for your business or work.

We should be learning - not ignoring.

Why should the customer have to hand-hold shitty corporations while we pretend, againt all past evidence, that they're ever going to learn to do better, when "doing better" isn't their goal?

It's not our job to fix bad business practices by rewarding them with continued business while they lie about "figuring things out." It's our job to condemn them to failure and bankruptcy for their atrocious anti-human behavior, and we're failing miserably at it due to our toxic collective preference for short-term convenience over quality and long-term societal and economic health.

What about when there are none left?

It'll be our fault because we accepted these practices in the first place.

It is going to happen.

There’s no “accepting it”, it is simply inevitable.

You can’t just decline to be fired and replaced by an LLM…

I'mnot talking about as a worker, but as a consumer. You do not have to give your money to these places. If you value convenience and familiarity over customer support and workers' rights, the problem is with your position, not mine.