Is Apple support mostly run by AI's

[zarathu]

My interaction with Apple Support in their community forum suggests that it is partially included with real people like myself, but also with Apple AI’s, and that ity is completely moderated by an AI. If you have a question there is simply no way to reach it.

My son has a funny story(he’s a senior software engineer with a PhD in experimental nuclear physics) when he was working for a company that makes AI’s for the banking industry. A customer was getting exasperated with the AI, and finally said, “you think this is funny don’t you?” where upon the AI said, “No but i do know some good funny banking stories, do you want to hear one?” This prompted the customer to start F-bombing. Most AI’s can recognize this as a need to switch to real person if obscenities start coming into the conversation, whereupon the AI says, “I think you need to talk to a real human being.” The customer would not believe that he had not been talking to a real but rude bank employee, and got even angrier.

I have had the experience with Apple Support Community. I have not resorted to F-bombs.

 

[Internaut]

It’ll get better. Tim Cook’s positronic brain is doubtless evolving.

 

[zarathu]

It’ll get better. Tim Cook’s positronic brain is doubtless evolving.

Well its better than when he was the CEO of pepsi cola.

 

[bsamcash]

Well its better than when he was the CEO of pepsi cola.

You're thinking of John Sculley.

 

[Bow Commander]

I love Apple's chat feature, and have always had a human on the other end.

 

[zarathu]

I love Apple's chat feature, and have always had a human on the other end.

OK...

 

[zarathu]

You're thinking of John Sculley.

Damn. When you’ve been into Apple for 40 years its hard to keep track.

 

[Pilot Jones]

I actually had a phenomenal experience just the other day for a really weird & specific issue.

My "Offload Unused Apps" toggle had gone missing from my settings so I hopped on to the chat. The guy on the chat was really helpful, but he wasn't sure whether we were missing something or it was a bug, so he asked me for a phone number and told me to expect a call within 10 mins. My phone rang in like 45 seconds before I'd even hopped off the chat.

What happened after that though was really what took me by surprise and is just another example of how insane Apple's software/hardware integration really is.

Within a minute or so, she remotely initiated this custom screen sharing software (that I had the ability to initiate, pause or cancel at any moment) that I had never even heard of before. It has never been something they advertised, but is by far the most superior customer service feature I have ever seen.

Instead of some lumbering, painful process where a customer service rep would be guiding me with no idea of whether I was actually following directions, we both saw the same screen & quickly combed through all the necessary settings & menus. It was so incredibly efficient, I was kind of stunned. It was awesome that she could actually see what was going on in my device without needing to make any assumptions. Plus whenever I was entering a more secure area of the phone, I could disable her access with 1 tap and re-enable it just as easily.

Eventually it turned out that I had a bug with the latest software update which had automatically logged me out of my App Store (which is what makes the "Offload Unused Apps" toggle disappear), but this process which took a grand total of 10 minutes could've easily taken 45 minutes on a regular call.

I know people have different experiences, especially when it comes to purchases, but anytime I have gotten in touch with Apple for any issues with my existing devices, it has genuinely been the best customer service I have ever gotten.

Also to answer your initial question, both the people I communicated with were definitely real and very naturally emotive. They were definitely not your typical cut & dry customer service reps and a breath of fresh air compared to the typical stuff you'd find on a support call/chat.

 

[400]

Nothing but good help from the chats recently, telephone version straight in on the first issue, the recent second reason for the online chat soon escalated to a telephone call, within minutes.
problem is I should not have needed those chats, the result of the first one was an agonising long wait for photos to rebuild but a fault escalated to the "team" as something I did should not have been allowed to happen.

The Apple community forums, now there is a right mess trying to look for answers there.

 

[zarathu]

The last two responses had nothing to do with my original assertions. When you call Apple you reach a human being. When you participate on the Apple Support Community Forum, there are humans there, and there are AI’s, moderation is done entirely by AI’s.

 

[zarathu]

I love Apple's chat feature, and have always had a human on the other end.

Yes. But the community forum is not Apple Chat. There is real question whether the chat online is a real human being or a very sophisticated AI, much better endowed than Siri.

 

[MBAir2010]

Well its better than when he was the CEO of pepsi cola.

You confused him as the CEO on coke

 

[Bow Commander]

Yes. But the community forum is not Apple Chat. There is real question whether the chat online is a real human being or a very sophisticated AI, much better endowed than Siri.

I clearly said Apple chat, not the forum.

 

[400]

The last two responses had nothing to do with my original assertions. When you call Apple you reach a human being. When you participate on the Apple Support Community Forum, there are humans there, and there are AI’s, moderation is done entirely by AI’s.

My mistake. Mis read it.

I have used the community forum and useful had help. But I do see a few standard responses when I search on a topic and not sure they are there to get post counts rather than AI.

Big problem with it is not the responses for me but trying to navigate it.