Dukaan CEO fires 90% of support staff in favor of AI chatbot
India-based e-commerce company Dukaan has fired 90% of its customer support team after an AI-backed chatbot outperformed them, reducing response times from over two hours to just minutes. In a tweet that has since gone viral, CEO Suumit Shah announced the layoffs, stating that they were tough but necessary. The AI chatbot, named Lina, took about three minutes to respond to customer queries, while the human team took over two hours. The move resulted in an 85% reduction in customer support costs for Dukaan. However, some Twitter users criticized the decision, questioning the empathy shown towards the laid-off employees. Shah defended the company’s actions, stating that the layoffs were made in September and were not due to AI, but rather due to funding issues. Dukaan is now looking to hire experts in AI, e-commerce, and product design. Meanwhile, in the US, AI has been blamed for the loss of nearly 4,000 jobs in May alone, according to analytics firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas. Elon Musk, who has long warned of the dangers of AI, recently launched his own AI model, called xAI, just six months after signing an open letter calling for a pause in the training of advanced AI models.
Dukaan CEO Replaces 90% of Support Staff with AI Chatbot, Cuts Workforce
The CEO of a popular e-commerce company from India has made headlines after announcing that 90% of his customer support team had been fired due to the superior performance of an AI-backed chatbot. Suumit Shah, the 31-year-old founder and CEO of Dukaan, took to Twitter to share the news in a now-viral tweet. In the tweet, Shah explained that the chatbot had significantly reduced response times from over two hours to mere minutes. He also stated that the firings had resulted in an 85% reduction in customer support costs. The announcement sparked a mixed response from Twitter users, with some questioning the decision to lay off employees during a challenging time. Others expressed concern about the lack of support provided to those affected by the layoffs. Despite the criticism, Shah ended his Twitter thread by announcing that Dukaan was hiring for multiple positions, particularly seeking AI, e-commerce, and product design experts. An interview with Shah revealed that the layoffs occurred in September, with only three support staff members remaining out of a previous team of 26. The company now employs a total of 60 people, with Shah stating that his monthly budget for customer support is now just $100. Dukaan’s artificial intelligence efforts are led by Ojasvi Yadav, who developed an in-house AI chatbot within just one day. After fixing some glitches, the chatbot, named Lina, was integrated into the company’s website. In the US, AI has been blamed for the loss of nearly 4,000 jobs in May alone, as market and economic conditions, as well as mergers and acquisitions, led to more than 80,000 job cuts overall. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has frequently warned of the dangers posed by AI, even signing an open letter calling for a six-month pause in training advanced AI models. However, less than six months after signing the letter, Musk launched his own AI model, xAI, stating that its purpose was to better understand the nature of the universe. The team behind xAI includes former engineers and scientists from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.