If you thought customer service was bad before, just wait until it’s all AI.
Of course AI has been a huge topic lately, with advances in technology helping machines taking over everything from music to the Royal Family to journalism (not here at Whiskey Riff obviously, but we’re on to some of these other sites…). Even the White House was recently accused of releasing an AI-generated video of President Joe Biden.
Even CBS News can’t tell if Biden statements are real or AI 😂pic.twitter.com/18ekKMhYdh
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 22, 2024
Well as AI gets more and more advanced, obviously companies (and presidents?) are going to turn to technology to make their jobs easier and more efficient. And a big part of that is going to be customer service…although Delta Airlines may need to do a little more work on their system.
A video recently went viral of baggage handlers for Delta tossing golf bags belonging to the East Tennessee State University men’s golf team as they were unloading them onto a cart from the airplane. A worker was seen heaving the golf clubs onto the ground before another picked them up and, once again, heaved them onto the cart.
Somebody with a window seat was able to get a video of the careless handling of their bags, and tweeted it from the team’s account sarcastically thanking Delta for taking good care of their golf clubs:
Nice of @Delta to handle our clubs with such care… pic.twitter.com/5tcIivt9dy
— ETSU Men’s Golf (@ETSU_MGolf) May 22, 2024
But as if that wasn’t bad enough, Delta managed to make it even worse with their seemingly auto-generated responses to tweets about the incident – most of which made no sense.
Thank you for messaging with us today. Take care and stay well! Please message with us again if you need any additional assistance.
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
Im not understanding the question I do apologize
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
Hi! This is Erin in the Delta Baggage Service Center. Your bag was damaged?
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
Thank you for messaging with us today. Take care and stay well! Please message with us again if you need any additional assistance.
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
I hope not
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
Hi! This is Erin in the Delta Baggage Service Center. I'm sorry to hear that your baggage was mishandled during your recent travel. May I have your name and file reference number or bag tag?
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
I do apologize for the inconvenience. For your privacy and security please DM us to assist you further https://t.co/6iDGBJAc2m
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
For the protection of your privacy, I ask that you click this link to message with me privately: https://t.co/6iDGBJAc2m
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
It seems that somebody finally got a real human’s attention, and Delta eventually tweeted a response that actually sounded somewhat human, even if it was just a pretty generic corporate response:
We’re so sorry this is how your golf clubs were handled. It’s not who we are. And we’re working to make it right, so you'll have everything you need to compete at the tournament this weekend.
— Delta (@Delta) May 22, 2024
Now, these baggage handlers aren’t even Delta employees: Their uniforms show that they’re contracted through another company, whether it was Delta or the airport that hired them. And obviously I can’t say for 100% certain that the responses were AI. But if that was a real human responding to all those tweets, that makes the response from the airline even worse.
Either way, get ready for AI customer service, because this response from Delta seems like it’s going to be the norm everywhere before long.
