Maximizing Productivity with AI Tools: A Catch You Should Know About
Recent studies show that the use of AI tools like ChatGPT has been beneficial for customer-service workers in terms of productivity. According to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the use of generative AI tools boosted the number of customer issues that workers were able to resolve per hour by 14%. However, there is a big catch. This increase in productivity only applies to new and less-experienced customer-service workers. Higher-skill workers benefit far less from AI assistance.
The authors of the working paper theorized that the AI tools learned behaviors and skills from skilled work, making it more beneficial to reduce the learning curve for new customer-service workers instead of helping highly skilled workers. “We find few positive effects of AI access for the highest-skilled or most-experienced workers. Instead, using textual analysis, we find suggestive evidence that AI assistance leads lower-skill agents to communicate more like high-skill agents,” the authors wrote.
The impact of AI tools is not just limited to improvements in productivity. The use of AI has also been found to enhance how customers treated agents, reducing the turnover of new customer service workers and saving time by reducing the number of customers that escalate to asking for an agent’s supervisor. Turnover in the customer-service industry can be expensive, costing firms $10,000 to $20,000 per agent, according to the paper.
While AI tools have significant potential in enhancing productivity, they also pose risks. The most significant risk linked to AI tools is the likelihood of confidently assert incorrect or made-up information offered by the AI itself. Experts referred to this as “hallucinations.” Another risk is the use of AI HR functions like writing job descriptions and responding to applicants. Experts warn that companies must be careful when using AI for HR functions due to potential legal challenges.
In summary, AI tools like ChatGPT are beneficial for boosting productivity among customer-service workers. However, businesses should consider the limitation of the technology in helping highly skilled workers. It is also essential to weigh the risks of using AI tools and employ them only in appropriate business processes.
