AI should bring you closer to your customers, not put up a wall

There’s a really weird thing happening with AI right now — businesses are using it to put up walls between themselves and their customers, despite their own proclamations to the opposite.

I shared years ago how our local Hyundai dealer did a fantastic job of actually listening to me when I reached out, and I leased another car from them last year. It’s due for an oil change, so I recently called to set up that appointment.

The call involved me and their AI bot, and they made sure that no humans from their side were disturbed in the process. It was quite disappointing. Two things stood out to me:

1. The AI voice on the phone was fairly convincing, but “she” butchered the pronunciation of the word “Hyundai” every time she said it. They should probably get that sorted out.
2. I had a question for her about whether I needed service yet or not (I’m a year in, but still very low mileage), and she no idea how to respond. Ultimately, I asked for a human to talk to, got voicemail, and then played phone tag for a while. I despise phone tag.

I have no doubt that they’re super proud of the efficiencies they’ve gained through this new AI bot that answers the phone for them, but I’m not convinced it’s the win that they think it is.