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Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by mrb on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @04:47PM (#33013039)
You don't need chatbot tech to be indistinguishable from strong AI, just indistinguishable from an average salesperson. Like babyshake, I firmly believe that this will happen one day. 10 years? 50 years?
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by woooooo on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @04:58PM (#33013171)
FYI for you and other readers, sales is actually hard. Low barrier to entry followed by brutal survival of the fittest. Don't meet your quota? Fuck you, you're fired.

People who survive for decades of that aren't trivially replaced.

Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by ghaff on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @05:06PM (#33013257)
Or as was put to me once, sales managers have no problem firing people. And that includes people who just had the bad luck to have their supporter at some company leave and be replaced by someone who favors a competitor. Or a project just gets put on hold because of budgets. I suspect many developers wouldn't appreciate being evaluated every quarter in no small part on factors that they have at best limited influence over.
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by mrb on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @05:30PM (#33013541)
You underestimate future AI tech (from 10-50 years from today) even more than you think I underestimate sales skills. The tech will completely blow your mind away, and you don't even see it coming ;)
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by adamckay on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @05:44PM (#33013669)
At that point why would you even have AI sales?

If this tech is going to be so amazing, it'll be better served by being a procurement/buyer system.

"Hey AI, what CRM system should I use [based on all the knowledge you have of my business already]?"

Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by Spooky23 on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @11:13PM (#33015903)
Azure chatbot: Dynamics E7
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by startupsales on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @06:22PM (#33014004)
correct, no need for salespeople
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by manigandham on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @05:04PM (#33013235)
I suggest you actually try and sell a product once before making this kind of prediction.
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by lupire on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @04:53PM (#33013122)
OK, sure, but handwaving enough, that's true for almost every job that exists today.
Re:Ask HN: Seriously, steelman this please. 7,400 employees ... by HeyLaughingBoy on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @04:53PM (#33013119)
You seriously think a salesperson can be replaced by a chatbot?