Virtual workers Software King of the World, Microsoft is going to allow its punters to build autonomous AI agents and create virtual workers. The move is part of Vole’s broader effort to expand its presence in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. It will stick two fingers in the eyes of Salesfor...
It’s always weird trying to determine if things like this will be a flop or a serious societal issue.
these autonomous agents represent the next step in the evolution of large language models (LLMs), seamlessly integrating into business processes to handle functions such as responding to customer inquiries, identifying sales leads, and managing inventory.
I really want to see what happens. It seems to me these “agents” are still useless in handling tasks like customer inquiries. Hopefully customers will get tired and switch to companies that employ competent humans instead…
We got used to foreign call centers. They’re not incompetent, but the wording is always off, and I say this as someone whose English usage is not exclusively American. Took me weeks to drop the Aussie accent.
The problem with those call centers isn’t competency but authority and incentive to act autonomously to solve problems. Which is ironic because it looks like Microsoft is ready to sell ai with the authority to act autonomously.
It’s because they go hand in hand. I’ve had experience with customer service roles where staff are empowered to solve issues and it requires very very very slightly higher investment in your employees to pull off.
I really want to see what happens. It seems to me these “agents” are still useless in handling tasks like customer inquiries. Hopefully customers will get tired and switch to companies that employ competent humans instead…
We got used to foreign call centers. They’re not incompetent, but the wording is always off, and I say this as someone whose English usage is not exclusively American. Took me weeks to drop the Aussie accent.
The problem with those call centers isn’t competency but authority and incentive to act autonomously to solve problems. Which is ironic because it looks like Microsoft is ready to sell ai with the authority to act autonomously.
It’s because they go hand in hand. I’ve had experience with customer service roles where staff are empowered to solve issues and it requires very very very slightly higher investment in your employees to pull off.
This is the correct take. Hence my worry.