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Connections

Is artificial intelligence the future of customer service?

Rich Pulvino and Rajendran Murthy on "Connections."
Megan Mack
/
WXXI News
Rich Pulvino and Rajendran Murthy appear on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, November 28, 2022.

Frontier Airlines has dropped its customer service line in favor of a chat bot, social media, and other text-based methods of communicating. As reported by NPR on Saturday, a company spokesperson said that "the airline found that most customers preferred communicating through online channels."

As a consumer, what do you prefer? The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to handle customer service issues is on the rise. What are the benefits and drawbacks? And what does it mean for the future of the industry? We discuss these questions and more with our guests:

  • Sean McKay, president of Site Hub 
  • Rajendran Murthy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing, and Analytics in the Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Rich Pulvino, vice president and director of corporate communications at ESL Federal Credit Union
  • Sevin Yeltekin, Ph.D., dean of the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
Emmarae Stein is the production assistant for "Connections with Evan Dawson."