Indian Technology Startup Founder Stops 90% Support Staff For Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

Sumit Shah, founder and CEO of the Bangalore-based e-commerce funeral company (photo: twitter @suumitshah)

JAKARTA - A major executive of a technology startup in India has laid off 90 percent of its company's support staff for a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence.

Sumit Shah, founder and CEO of the Bangalore-based e-commerce firm, said the bot, created by one of the company's data scientists, could respond to initial questions instantly, compared to staff who need an average of one minute 44 seconds.

Shah, who founded the company in 2020, said the layoffs (PHK) were a "heavy" decision but "needed", especially when many people in the tech industry and other sectors felt unsure about the safety of their jobs with the presence of artificial intelligence increasing.

The time it takes to solve customer problems also turns out to decrease by almost 98 percent on average when using chatbots - from two hours 13 minutes to three minutes 12 seconds.

The company's move is just a fraction of the global trend towards artificial intelligence, which has caused a lot of job loss in various sectors.

In a series of his tweets, Shah wrote, 'Given the economic condition, startups prioritize "profit" rather than trying to be "unicorn", and so do we.'

Shah added that the layoffs had reduced the cost of its customer support function by about 85 percent, which is a long-term problem for the company.

Shah told CNN that layoffs occurred in September, but the announcement only made on Monday, July 17.

He added that he believes 'in the future where artificial intelligence and humans work together,' and he is also interested in developing ways for artificial intelligence to take over other parts of the business.

The tech founder ended by saying that Grief is still recruiting for several roles, including in engineering, marketing, and sales, according to their website. However, the majority of the viewers of the tweet seem less impressed by the changes made by the company.

In particular, the commentators were impressed with the tone of the series of tweets in their context which was directly related to the massive termination of work. Many see it as 'lack of empathy,' or 'disrespect' from the CEO.

One of the people said, "I don't think that someone who loses his job is something to be proud of."

This opinion was voiced by many people, with one others adding that it was very 'disrespectful of everyone who was fired,' and 'left a bad impression.'

Another person responded with a proportional emoji while saying: "This guy felt so bad about them that he posted a whole series of tweets about it."

Others described it as a 'new lows' done for marketing, adding that 'you shouldn't have said anything.'

Shah responded to some criticism by repeating that 'it was a difficult decision.' "As expected, "one person" would be offended on behalf of "one else", he said.

Then he suggested that people on Twitter were only interested in reading profitability rather than sympathy.

The response, once again, showed the opposite, with someone saying, "I feel sorry for the people who worked for you. Also, happy for the people who were fired because they no longer have to work with you."

However, Condolences are certainly not the first company to terminate employment in switching to artificial intelligence, although not every CEO who does post a series of tweets about the decision.

In addition, in May, a report by the World Economic Forum predicts that artificial intelligence will cause 83 million jobs to be lost between now and 2027.

The work that is widely thought to be the most risky is work involving low emotional levels and following a set of structured rules. This may include the role of analysts, software engineers, and accountants.

Other experts are also providing sharper warnings, such as the possibility of 80 percent of the human career that bots will take on 'in the coming years,' as the company seeks competitive advantage at the expense of human labor.

As a result, many industry leaders such as Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak have urged a hiatus in artificial intelligence development, by signing an open letter in March asking for a six-month delay.

Another dramatic step is the exit of 'Father of Artificial Intelligence' Geoffrey Hinton from Google this year while giving a warning about AI - by comparing it to an atomic bomb.