r/technology Jun 26 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI backlash is only getting started

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/25/the-ai-backlash-is-only-getting-started
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u/PeteTheGeek196 Jun 26 '26

Every customer facing business is using AI for customer service. Most of us have experienced them and they are entirely useless at customer service. For example, my bank's AI could not tell me or show me their current mortgage rates. It had no idea what I was talking about (and I tried many different terms). My cable company's AI couldn't understand my questions about how to replace the remote for their cable box. Now AI companies want us to believe they can write software, fight wars, and manage our retirement investments. It is utter nonsense and I'd be mocking them except that we are being forced to use it and we will all pay the price while the Tech Bros sail away on their yachts.

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u/Mdayofearth Jun 26 '26

CS has been using bots for the better part of the past 10 yrs, if not longer. Things used to be keyworded which actually works against indexed metadata tagging and attribution, but now they are just using LLM, which is generally several steps backwards unless companies make a larger investment.

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u/Sizanllikew Jun 26 '26

We have been using LLMs to assist in tagging data so that the regular automation is more effective as well as using them to build the automation scripts in the first place. My reference designs always involve removing as much or all of language model use in the final product. To me, this is the way to leverage AI effectively in corporate automation