Artificial Intelligence? Beautiful, but my girls are unbeatable!

At the beginning it's like falling in love.

Artificial intelligence arrives in your work routine like one of those relationships that make you believe you've found the right person. Or, to stay in the technological field, it's like when you discover that by pressing “Ctrl+Z” you can undo the last disastrous move and you suddenly feel omnipotent.

AI is fast, precise, doesn't take holidays, doesn't get headaches, doesn't ask for permission to take the cat to the vet.

It's always awake, even when you'd just like to take a nap under the desk.
In short: the perfect ally.

The limits of AI

Then, however, something happens.

Ta-da! Drum roll, please…

You start to notice small signals. Like it gets the days of the week wrong. Always.

My son learned them in first grade. AI, no. Just… saying!

Artificial Intelligence is fast and precise, yet it is not infallible. A more careful use can reveal its technological and reasoning limits

Or that it gets stuck on concepts and this even after you point it out once, twice, twelve times. AI looks at you (or rather: answers you) as if nothing happened, and proudly repeats the exact same mistake.

It's like finding yourself in a surreal conversation, where someone looks at you seriously and tells you that the Earth is flat. And you're there, wondering if you're the one going crazy, while you vainly try to defend the absurd, old-fashioned idea that the planet is round. Poor deluded souls, us lovers of gravity and globes! But nothing: the other looks at you with the air of someone who knows better (him, obviously) and reiterates, calmly, that if you walk too much you'll end up falling off the edge!

Here, AI when it gets stuck on a wrong concept is like that: convinced, imperturbable and completely off track.

Artificial Intelligence vs human contact

An example? Klarna.

The Swedish fintech bet heavily on a super efficient chatbot, so much so as to replace hundreds of operators. Result? Customers found lightning-fast answers, yes… but often to the wrong question.

The initial enthusiasm deflated like Wi-Fi during a thunderstorm, and the much-acclaimed efficiency gave way to a less brilliant reality: infinite conversations, automatic answers out of context and, above all, zero empathy.

Because this is the real point.

AI can be a great ally, but it cannot (yet) replace human contact.

AI can be a great ally, but it cannot (yet) replace human contact. When a customer has a real problem, they don't just look for a quick solution: they look for someone who understands them and who truly listens to them

When a customer has a real problem, they don't just look for a quick solution: they look for someone who understands them, who truly listens, who grasps the nuance behind the words.

As reported also by the Corriere, many companies are starting to backtrack after the initial enthusiasm. Klarna is just one of the most famous examples: after having bet everything on AI, it had to reconsider its choices.

Attention: artificial intelligence is not to be thrown away, on the contrary. It is very useful for a thousand repetitive activities, it sorts, orders, answers on the fly. But when the conversation becomes more subtle — an angry customer, an unusual request, a tone to interpret — AI begins to wobble.

The rediscovery of human contact and personal support

The result?

More and more companies are rediscovering the value of human contact. Not as an alternative to AI, but as a complement. Because if it is true that speed is important, it is equally true that understanding makes the difference between a customer who feels looked after… and one who feels abandoned in front of a chatbot that doesn't understand them.

Companies are rediscovering human contact as a complement to AI. Voice & Web uses it to manage repetitive tasks and fast responses. But when it is necessary to understand, solve or reassure, our Customer Care experts act.

We at Voice & Web have always believed in it.

We use artificial intelligence where it is needed: to manage repetitive tasks, streamline flows, speed up responses.

But when there is a need to understand, solve, reassure or simply smile with words… well, that's where they come into play: our customer care girls.

Professional, prepared, empathetic and – not a small bonus – they know perfectly the order of the days of the week!

The future?

It is in collaboration.

A balanced mix between technological efficiency and human sensitivity. And on this, we can say with certainty, we are working in the right direction.

Article by Simona Di Iorio Commercial Assistant for Voice & Web.

Voice & Web's sphere of activity ranges from Customer Care Services, to Customer Satisfaction, to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), to facilitating and guiding the Customer in eCommerce activities and processes, to improve their user experience.