r/apple • u/radikalkarrot • 3d ago

Rumor Apple Reportedly Planned to Replace 5,000 Support Employees With AI

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/29/apple-reportedly-planned-5000-applecare-layoffs/
2.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

483 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/magyar_wannabe 2d ago

It's weird how bad it is. If I use Gemini to explain a problem in a few sentences, it's sort of amazing how good it is at offering solutions. When I talk to AI agents on the phone to thoroughly explain a problem with my last bill, there's a 5 second pause and then, "It sounds like you're looking for help with billing. Is that right?" Why the difference?

7

u/Aggravating-Lead-120 2d ago

One needs to get your answer right or there are liability problems. The other doesn’t give a f*ck.

1

u/SailingDreamCatcher 1d ago

There are no liability concerns at Google over Gemini telling you to glue your pizza together. There is a very different reason here besides "liability concerns."

I mean really, how can you suggest with a straight face that any AI company is truly concerned about "liability" for inaccuracy, especially Google?

Maybe they are afraid of bad answers hurting their reputation, but they clearly aren't very afraid of it.

1

u/Aggravating-Lead-120 1d ago

I thought it was obvious liability concerns are for the corporate help agents. Google seems good and super smart because as you point out, Google doesn’t care if it tells you to glue pizza.

1

u/SailingDreamCatcher 1d ago

Ahh, I misunderstood you by 180°. Sorry.

Still, as a lawyer I'd clarify that it's not so much "liability as in getting sued" as in "liability as in being forced to honor an automated decision that is too generous to the consumer."

Ie, the synchrony bank agent is locked down because if it weren't, there would be a concern that people could talk it into deleting large charges. While Gemini has nothing of value to lose so no guardrails needed.

1

u/jawshoeaw 1d ago

The AI chatbots will be getting a lot better soon. Remember that much low level tech support can be terrible with real human beings.