An Indian CEO is facing criticism after he mentioned that his firm had replaced 90 per cent of its human staff with an artificial intelligence chatbot (AI bot.)
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Suumit Shah, founder of Dukaan, said on Twitter that the chatbot had drastically improved the fast response and resolution time of customers’ queries. The tweet sparked outrage online.
The decision comes when people are apprehensive about AI taking away people’s jobs. In areas such as the service industry, many people are terrified of the fact that they’ll be more unemployment in areas due to AI bots taking over.
In a series of tweets, which have had over one million views, Mr Shah wrote about his firm’s decision to use a chatbot. He said that though laying off staff had been a “tough” decision, it was “necessary”.
“Given the state of the economy, start-ups are prioritising “profitability” over striving to become “unicorns,” and so are we,” he wrote and added that customer support had been a struggle for the firm for a long time and that he was looking to fix this.
In addition to that, he mentioned how they built the bot and the AI platform in a short time span. This was so that all of Dukaan’s customers could have their own AI assistant. He said that the bot was answering all kinds of queries with speed and accuracy.
“In the age of instant gratification, launching a business is not a distant dream anymore,” he wrote. “With the right idea, the right team, anyone can turn their entrepreneurial dreams into reality.”
Mr Shah also added that the firm was hiring for multiple roles.
However, many users criticised his tweets and accused him of disrupting the lives of his staff with this “heartless” decision.
“As expected, didn’t find any mention of the 90% staff that were laid off. What assistance were they provided?” asked one user.
“Maybe it was the right decision for the business, but it shouldn’t have turned into a celebratory/marketing thread about it,” said another.
Mr Shah responded to one tweet by saying “As expected, someone will get offended on behalf of someone else” and added that he would post about assistance for his staff on LinkedIn because on Twitter, people are in search of “profitability and not sympathy”.
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In recent years, generative AI tools like ChatGPT have developed and become more accessible. There have been reports of organisations using these tools to increase productivity and also cutting costs. This has made workers fearful about losing their jobs to technology.
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In March, Goldman Sachs released a report stating that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. In India, several firms are investing in AI to develop products and it has sparked concerns about job losses.
Is the increased unemployment rate looming amidst AI development?
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