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Recently, while traveling abroad for work, I purchased something on Amazon that I couldn’t find in local stores. However, this purchase was late, despite me paying extra to arrive on time. By the time it was ready for delivery, I had already moved to a new hotel in another part of the city. I couldn’t update the location on the order and it was something I needed ASAP, so I called Amazon customer service to see what I could do.
Amazon definitely did their best to keep me from talking to anyone, keeping me on the phone for 10 minutes and tossing me back and forth through a maze of useless menu options and generic FAQ pages that did nothing to help with my question specific. Never once in any of these options was the option to “talk to a live human being” offered. So, naturally, I had to stop the bot and ask (request) to speak to someone myself.
Related: In the age of artificial intelligence, there is always room for human intelligence
The power of empathy
And once I was finally directed to a human, guess what happened?
I explained my situation to the officer with an angry huff. She listened and replied, “Ma’am, I understand this must be very frustrating and I’m so sorry, but we are unable to update the address once the delivery period is over. Your only choice is to cancel the order and reorder.”
Paradoxically, even though he had done nothing to solve the problem beyond giving me more work to do, my anger had melted away. Just having someone, a real person, empathize and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience made everything a little better.
And that, my friends, is something AI I cannot do (at least not yet). Imagine an AI trying to express empathy in a creepy, robotic way – it’s just not the same.
Integrate artificial intelligence with emotional intelligence training
Employees in general are grappling with the harsh reality of artificial intelligence taking over many previously human tasks. People are indeed losing their jobs, or at risk of losing them, so these fears are not unjustified. As a change management leader who has helped companies adopt AI into their workflows, I have seen both the fears and actual repercussions of mass layoffs and reorganizations at many of my client companies.
But while AI has dramatically transformed the way businesses operate, I would argue that it is not yet ripe to do so substitute most customer-facing features – just scale them up. Companies should think twice before completely replacing people with artificial intelligence.
First, take a look at some of these statistics recently published in a report by UJET on the use of AI bots for customer service:
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80% of customers said that using chatbots increased their frustration level.
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78% of consumers have been forced to connect with a human after failing to resolve their needs through an automated service channel.
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63% indicated that their interaction with a chatbot did not lead to a resolution.
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72% believe that using a chatbot for customer service is a waste of time.
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More than half of consumers (54%) believe a phone call with a live agent offers the fastest resolution and best overall customer service.
A survey conducted by Cyara found that of 1,554 consumers worldwide, 30% have been turned away from a brand due to a negative experience with the chatbot.
It’s true that in many cases, for more general problems, a bot can help solve the problem through a predictable workflow and by pointing to some online resource.
But most customers who take the time to contact customer service have already searched publicly available sources of information and failed to find the right solution to their problem.
Related: AI can replace (some) jobs, but it can’t replace human connection. Here because.
When artificial intelligence is not as effective as human intelligence
Rest assured that there are still some areas where human intelligence surpasses artificial intelligence. Here are some:
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Innovation: While AI can generate new ideas and works of art, it often lacks the depth of human creativity. Humans excel at combining disparate ideas, emotions, and experiences to produce truly original solutions.
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Solving complex problems: AI is powerful when it comes to solving specific, well-defined problems within a structured environment. However, it struggles with ambiguity and may not adapt well to completely new or unexpected situations where human intuition and creativity are crucial.
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Ethical decision making: AI has no moral compass. While it may be programmed with ethical guidelines, it may not always make morally sound decisions in complex scenarios that require understanding nuances, cultural contexts, and human values.
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Interpersonal communication and negotiation: Building relationships, understanding subtle signals, and negotiating effectively are skills that humans excel at but which can pose a challenge to AI, especially in dynamic and unpredictable social interactions.
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Intuition and visceral sensitivity: Humans often make decisions based on intuition or feeling, tapping into subconscious processes that are difficult to replicate in artificial intelligence systems, which rely on algorithms and explicit data.
Almost all of these examples have a common thread, which I would summarize as emotional intelligence.
And while there is no doubt that AI will continue to progress and get better at mimicking human emotional intelligence, most likely to an uncanny degree, it may be a long time before we can truly consider it an adequate substitute for human connection.
Related: The art and science of promoting emotional intelligence
So in conclusion, my message to employees is to keep your head high in these challenging times and invest in those soft skills.
And also to employers: don’t overlook the importance of emotional intelligence.
Certainly invest in embedding AI into operations, but at the same time, don’t forget to invest in offering emotional intelligence training – it can definitely make or break the customer experience!