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Chatbots won't ever fully replace customer service reps, expert says

ChatGPT is being used for all sorts of applications. While it might be used for some customer service jobs, it won't fully replace humans.
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While artificial intelligence has long been used to automate customer support, more companies are turning to ChatGPT to make the customer service experience better. 

Using advanced artificial intelligence has its pros for both companies and consumer, said Yoon Kim, assistant professor of computer science at MIT. 

“This technique means that chatbots can now become more flexible. It can cover a a wider range of customer queries, and moreover, enhance the engagement of of the customer with the chatbot, and ultimately widen the scope of problems that can be potentially addressed,” Kim said. 

He says the possibility of these smarter customer service chatbots giving out wrong information is something companies will have to figure out before making them available to everyone. 

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“Applications, where the precision, the accuracy of the answer that you give is of utmost importance, will never ever be in a case where we'll completely rely on a ChatGPT-like system, and even for not critical sort of applications,” Kim said. “I can imagine a world where a company is not necessarily relying fully on a ChatGPT to service the entire customer request.”

Kim said it would hard for the average customer to know if the answer to their question is coming from an AI chatbot.

He says solution to this could be for companies to have an actual person reviewing the answers before they reach customers.