CEO replaces 90% of customer support staff with AI chatbot, sparking major backlash online

31-year-old Suumit Shah, the CEO of e-commerce platform Duukan, a Bengaluru-based company that assists businesses in setting up their online storefronts, has recently put himself in the online firing line for letting go 90% of his customer support staff.

Shah took to Twitter with his announcement, writing that "we had to lay off 90% of our support team because of this AI chatbot". Shah's post, which has been viewed more than 2 million times goes on to say that the while the decision was "tough" it was "necessary," and the AI chatbot has dramatically reduced customer support response times, resolution times, and running costs.

According to Shah, customer support costs were reduced by 85% when layoffs began in September 2022. Notably, Duukan, which currently employs 60 people, fired 23 of the 26 customer support team members, resulting in the company reducing its monthly budget for customer support to just $100.

Shah's announcement wasn't received very well online as many Twitter and Reddit users began criticizing his adoption of AI, with one user writing, "How not to announce layoffs" and another, "I'm terrified of the future where we will never speak to a human again in customer support which means we will never get a problem solved, you'll just be passed around between bots."

Despite the abundant backlash, Shah told Insider that his point remains true, "AI is taking our jobs," and that he regrets the way he went about discussing the topic on Twitter.

"Over time, everybody will start doing this. It's not just us. Maybe I'm just too straightforward to have put it on Twitter," Shah added.