The Honest Limits

It only knows what you told it

If your prices are not written anywhere, it cannot quote them. If your policy exists only in someone's head, it cannot explain it.

This is the single most common disappointment and it is entirely predictable. The bot is a retrieval system, and it can only retrieve what exists.

It cannot judge a situation

“Should I do X?” requires understanding a specific person's circumstances, weighing trade-offs and taking a view. It cannot do that and it should not try.

It can explain how something works. It cannot advise on what someone should do.

It cannot take responsibility

A commitment about price, timing or outcome has to come from someone who can honour it. A bot making promises creates obligations nobody agreed to.

That is why commitments belong with a person, always, however confident the answering gets.

It cannot replace a relationship

• It will not remember a customer's history the way a person does
• It cannot read that someone is upset about something they have not said
• It cannot make an exception because this customer has been with you eight years
• It cannot repair a relationship that has gone wrong

What it is genuinely good at

Answering the same twenty questions correctly, instantly, at any hour, without getting tired or irritated on the fortieth repetition.

That is a narrow capability and a genuinely valuable one, and it is worth being clear about which is which.

Frequently asked questions