AI Won’t Replace Agents
Ali Merchant explains how contact center agents can be retrained as AI supervisors, conversation designers, and AI QA analysts in an AI-first future.
Up nextAI doesn’t win by replacing agents.Overview
About this session
In this short from a Customer Contact Week Digital interview, Orvera AI Founder and CEO Ali Merchant is asked what leaders should start doing today to prepare their teams for an AI-first future. His answer is a cultural shift: AI and people as partners rather than opponents, with leaders showing their teams how the change benefits them.
He describes the new roles agents can grow into, from AI supervisors and conversation designers to AI QA analysts. The knowledge-intensive, emotion-intensive conversations that remain, around 20% of the work, call for exception resolution specialists. Those roles can bring better pay, more respect, and more fulfilling work. The clip is designed for contact center leaders planning their workforce.
Key takeaways
What comes out of it
A cultural shift first. AI and people work as partners, not against each other.
New roles for agents. AI supervisors, conversation designers, and AI QA analysts.
The human 20%. Knowledge- and emotion-intensive conversations need exception resolution specialists.
Better careers. Evolved roles can bring better pay, respect, and fulfillment.
TranscriptRead the full session
Ali Merchant 00:00:00.00 These agents will have to be retrained to become AI supervisors.
Interviewer 00:00:06.78 What is one thing that leaders need to start doing today if they really want to begin preparing their teams for this AI-first future?
Ali Merchant 00:00:14.66 I think the most important piece, I as a contact center leader know this, create this cultural shift, meaning AI and human, it's a partnership and not against each other. and then basically show them how it will benefit them. These agents will have to be retrained to become AI supervisors, conversation designers, AIQ analysts. Large part of the role for those 20% knowledge-intensive, emotion-intensive conversations will be, you know, exception resolution specialists. It will benefit them how it evolves their roles. Hence, they get paid better, they get more respect, they have more fulfilling roles.
Ali Merchant 00:00:49.82 So I think, yeah, largely cultural shift of newer roles is what we are looking at.
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