Dukaan founder and CEO, Suumit Shah, recently sparked controversy on Twitter when he revealed that 90% of the company’s support staff had been laid off following the implementation of an AI chatbot for customer support queries. In a Twitter thread shared on Monday, Shah explained that the introduction of Dukaan’s own AI assistant significantly reduced the resolution time from 2 hours and 13 minutes to just 3 minutes and 12 seconds. He further elaborated on the intricacies of how he made it happen. However, his post quickly went viral and received backlash from the public, who criticised him for celebrating the layoffs that affected his former employees.
“We had to lay off 90 percent of our support team because of this AI chatbot. Tough? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely," Shah tweeted. He acknowledged that the company, a DIY platform enabling merchants with no programming experience to establish their own e-commerce stores, had long grappled with customer support challenges, and he saw the AI revolution as an opportunity to address this issue. Shah explained that the goal was to develop “Dukaan’s own AI assistant, which would answer customer queries instantly and precisely, anywhere."
We had to layoff 90% of our support team because of this AI chatbot.Tough? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
The results?
Time to first response went from 1m 44s to INSTANT!Resolution time went from 2h 13m to 3m 12sCustomer support costs reduced by ~85%
Here’s how’s we did it
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
He even mentioned that the chatbot, named Lina, had already resolved over 1400 support tickets, but this was just the beginning of Dukaan’s AI transformation.
A day later, he came up with another demo and this time bot answered both generic as well as account-specific questions, instantly.Let’s name her “Lina" and @_ggpush to prod.
Next? Of course GGpush https://t.co/coiQz6oSxP
Posted this in Dukaan VIP community on FB & slept. pic.twitter.com/fUBOoaQD1D
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
Subsequently, the company introduced a platform that provides each user with their own AI assistant. Shah elaborated on this concept, envisioning a scenario where merchants would have an AI assistant familiar with their business intricacies, capable of instantly addressing customer queries, and available 24/7, including personalised inquiries.
The result? https://t.co/nTPjQTrMR3 Imagine having your own AI assistant, who knows your business inside out & can answer customer queries instantly, 24/7.
And not just generic queries but queries that are user/account specific.
Give it a try: https://t.co/QiTTqzUEHR pic.twitter.com/fRDSU1hqOR
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
However, towards the end of his Twitter thread, Shah stated that Dukaan is actively hiring for various positions in AI, product design, and e-commerce. This transition from announcing layoffs to seeking new hires drew irony and criticism from commenters.
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One commenter pointed out the contradiction, stating, “Man lays off 90% of his staff and said ‘Great idea! Time to make a viral thread about this!’ Folks are so hooked on likes they completely forget about real life. But then in the very last tweet ‘btw we are hiring for more devs k bye’ You just fired 90% of your staff lol. Why not let go of 50% and then no need to rehire or was that planning a bit too much?"
P.S. We’re hiring for multiple roles at Dukaan.If you’re passionate about AI, E-commerce, Product Design and want to be part of the unfuckwithable team, you know how to reach out to us.
Note: Lionel Messi, we’re keeping a spot open for you, just in case
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
Amidst the backlash, Shah’s response to a Twitter user’s inquiry regarding assistance for the laid-off employees drew further criticism. He brushed off the query, stating that additional details about the layoffs would be revealed in an upcoming LinkedIn post.
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.
Also - “it was tough decision"
— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023
Commenters expressed their discontent, as one of them labelled the thread as “the most heartless tweet". “Maybe it was the right decision for the business, but it shouldn’t have turned into a celebratory/marketing thread about it. IMO,” remarked another.
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Since being posted, the tweet has garnered over 1.5 million views and around 230 retweets.
