Indian start-up CEO faces backlash after replacing 90% of support staff with AI chatbot

The technology is more efficient than the company’s human support team, Dukaan chief executive Suumit Shah says

Dukaan chief executive Suumit Shah was criticised on social media and described as lacking empathy. Photo: Dukaan

The chief executive of Indian e-commerce start-up Dukaan is facing a backlash on social media after disclosing on Twitter he replaced 90 per cent of the company's customer support team with an artificial intelligence chatbot.

The AI chatbot, named Lina, took less than four minutes to resolve customer queries, whereas his human support team reportedly took more than two hours, Suumit Shah said in a tweet this week.

It also reduced the average waiting time from one minute and 44 seconds, to instantaneous, while customer support costs were cut by 85 per cent, he claimed.

“Given the state of economy, start-ups are prioritising 'profitability' over striving to become 'unicorns', and so are we,” he tweeted.

“It's less magical, sure, but at least it pays the bills! Customer support had been a struggle for us since long and fixing it felt like an opportunity to me.”

There have been growing fears over the effects of AI on jobs.

AI will result in job losses but it will, ultimately, be a creator of work, too. More than 220 million jobs will open up, thanks to the technology, in the next few years, according to LinkedIn data.

At least one in four jobs is expected to change in the next five years as AI “comes of age”, creating and destroying millions of jobs in the process, the World Economic Forum said in May.

In its survey of 803 companies globally, the forum found that employers expect a structural labour market churn of 23 per cent in the next five years.

The fastest-growing jobs are in specialist fields – whether in AI, machine learning, security or sustainability, according to the survey.

The Dukaan AI chatbot can answer both generic and account-specific questions, instantly, Mr Shah tweeted.

“In the age of instant gratification, launching a business is not a distant dream any more,” he said.

“With the right idea, the right team, anyone can turn their entrepreneurial dreams into reality. Overnight!”

He said the start-up, which helps businesses to set up their online storefronts, was hiring for several roles related to AI, e-commerce and product design.

However, his tweets on making 90 per cent of Dukaan’s customer support staff redundant faced a huge backlash on social media.

Mr Shah defended his actions and said that the chatbot was more efficient, although he admitted regretting discussing layoffs on Twitter.

“The guy who laid off people over Zoom did a much better job than whatever this is,” one user tweeted. “We’ve lost all empathy, have we?”

He was referring to Vishal Garg, the chief executive of US-based digital mortgage lender Better.com, who laid off about 15 per cent of the company’s workforce during a Zoom call in 2021.

Another Twitter user said Mr Shah’s post was the “most heartless tweet” he had ever seen.

“This post would have been less cringe if you’d have actually posted anything about how the business is actually doing. I refuse to believe AI replaces customer support, especially in India,” said another tweet.

Jijo Jose, another Twitter user, said it was a “soulless story to market a chatbot”.

“Shrinking your team for cost-cutting is fine, but using that to market a product! Man, that's a new low I've seen! Heartless marketing.”

Another user replied on the thread that “maybe it was the right decision for the business, but it shouldn't have turned into a celebratory/marketing thread about it”.