Is A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) Coming for Your Job?

A Little History

I'll start with a little backstory. I grew up in Jacksonville Florida. Here in Jacksonville during the 90s and into the early 2000s, Jacksonville had a large population of people with face tattoos. These people would frequent places like CLUB 5. CLUB 5 would feature any number of Hardcore and Industrial Metal bands, also some big names like Cake, Genitorturers, and even Dream Theater.

I frequented CLUB 5 as well -- because it was crazy. You never knew what you were going to see, or who you might meet. Everyone there was really friendly. It was just people hanging out, drinking, dancing, and sometimes chicks with only electric tape covering their nipples. For a while I wondered, "Where do all these people with face tattoos work?" You can't have an office, or customer facing job with Mike Tyson-style face tattoos.

I later found out that the face tattoo people worked as call center representatives at AOL (America Online). AOL had a huge call center in Jacksonville Florida for a number of years, from around 1996 - 2006. In late 2006, AOL started downsizing. Open Internet access was rendering services like AOL and CompuServe unnecessary. When the AOL jobs went away, many of the tech workers ended up at other businesses in Jacksonville, mostly in the financial industry.

Meanwhile, the trend to move call center jobs overseas had already begun. There were many advantages to moving a call center overseas, most importantly tax benefits, and reduced labor costs.

I'm Sorry, We Seem to Have Been Disconnected

But the current trend is moving towards a total elimination of call centers.

The History of Call Centers

Call centers date back to the 1960s, when Private Automated Business Exchange (PABX) was installed in the UK-based Birmingham Press and Mail to have rows of agents receiving customer calls. In the early 1970s, telephone booking systems were patented, and telephone headsets became popular based on televised NASA events.

Key Highlights of Call Center History

Call centers have continually evolved across the decades:

• 1970s: Call center technology used for telephone sales, reservations, and banking services
• 1980s: Toll-free numbers increased agent efficiency and call volumes
• 1990s: Call centers became contact centers using multiple methods of communication
• 2000s: The internet brought more computerization and automation
• 2010s: The cloud developed along with mobile wireless technology modernizing call centers
• 2020s: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and virtual agents assist agents and provide expanded customer support

Outsourcing became the "corporate" thing to do. In the tech/programming realm, you would often hear, "I'll have to get with my team in India" or somewhere, but not here.

This video is very well done, I recommend watching until the end. You won't be disappointed.

The managerial control structure has broken what was at least a mostly working call center system. For example, in the early 2000s, if you were able to get ahold of someone in a call center, they could usually help you. But that's no longer the case. The managerial system has obfuscated the process to the point where nobody does anything.

John Carter who writes Postcards from Barsoom covered this quite eloquently in a piece entitled "Cyrptocracy."

The entire system seems to be designed around maximization of the system’s ability to wield power, whilst diffusing responsibility such that identifying the actual source of power is nigh impossible, thereby shielding those wielding power on behalf of the system from any negative consequences of their decisions.

People used to recommend, "Take down the name of the person you were talking with, in case you have to call back." But that no longer applies. The layers are too deep, nobody is accountable. The person you were speaking with -- their boss doesn't even know their name. You have to face it, you'll never get ahold of the man named "Mike," who has a really heavy foreign accent.

Everything is a matter of policy. Policy is referenced constantly as an excuse for why people can't help you. "Sir, I can't do that, I'll have to escalate the matter." These systems are not designed to provide a service anymore. They are designed to make people give up, go away, and just accept that they are being taken advantage of. The modern call center is a demoralization masterpiece, carefully crafted to make sure that you feel helpless and quite literally as, just a number.

Looking Forward

Understanding that "customer NO service" is the target design going forward, there is also no more need for people in call centers.

If the call center people couldn't help you, are they needed? A machine can just as easily repeat corporate policy and not help you -- and do it much more cheaply.

Newer corporate systems are designed such that nobody is helped. The caller is supposed to reference their user agreement, because all of the corporate policy is contained within. If you can comprehend the legalese, you will understand that you have agreed to be taken advantage of, and your only option is to stop using the service. Stopping the service might not be simple either. Even without contract, they can continue to bill you, if you don't jump through the proper hoops to meet cancelation requirements. After all, you agreed to it right?

The requirement of "autopay services" coincided with the entire push towards policy-based "customer NO service." This is something to consider whenever you are looking at using, or paying for any service. Autopay is the very first sign that you're entering an agreement -- that is not in your best interest.

As for call center workers, now might be a good time to freshen up your resume.

What do you think?

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