Dukaan’s Suumit Shah Replaces 90% Support Staff with AI Chatbot, Sparks Fury on Twitter

To recall, McKinsey's June 2023 report had said earlier AI is expected to automate 60 to 70 percent of employee workloads, and companies are already scrambling to jump on the AI bandwagon.

New Delhi: Bengaluru-based e-commerce startup Dukaan has replaced 90% of its support staff with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, said Co-founder and CEO Suumit Shah in a tweet. Speaking about the necessity of AI today, he said that the time to first response went from 1 minute & 44 seconds to “INSTANT!” and resolution time went from 2 hours and 13 minutes to 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

Attributing the decision to prioritising profitability, CEO Suumit Shah said customer support costs reduced by 85 per cent while resolution time went down from over two hours to three minutes. “We had to lay off 90 per cent of our support team because of this AI chatbot. Tough? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely,” Shah tweeted.

Several Twitter users criticised the tweet, deeming it insensitive. “Given the state of economy, startups are prioritising “profitability” over striving to become “unicorns”, and so are we,” Shah added.

He explained in detail about Lina, the AI assistant which he claimed, replaces generic and delayed responses, as well as limited availability of resources and poor communication. After 12 tweets, Shah said that the company is hiring for multiple roles.

When asked by a Twitter user about the assistance provided to the laid off staff, he asked them to look out for his LinkedIn post, reiterating that it was a tough decision.

“As expected, ‘someone’ will get offended on behalf of ‘someone else’, so I had this reply ready: Assistance ke bare mein jab Linkedin pe post karunga tab dekh lena mere dost, yahaan Twitter pe log “profitability” dekhte hai “sympathy” nahi”, Shah tweeted.

“Laying off is never a pleasant experience, why is the need to proclaim and be proud about it,” a Twitter user wrote. The announcement comes after Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar deemed any concerns about AI threatening jobs as “nonsense”.

Twitter’s Responses

Damn. 90% of supporting staff is garbage? Such compassion! Now I have to make sure I really promote this product!

— Danny Thompson (@DThompsonDev) July 11, 2023

Empathy is necessary brother

— Animesh swet (@JhaMiccu) July 11, 2023

Hi @suumitshah,

Just for the learning purpose let me ask you again. How did you do it?

I mean what tools you used for this in order to achieve such results.

— Ankit Mangal (@techmashertw) July 11, 2023