Apple has put off laying off about 5,000 support staff: the AppleCare phone line is already answered by an SI assistant
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Publication time restored from the build log. . Updated: .
SI is already taking support calls at one of the world's largest companies; replacing people is on hold for now, but the technical capability is in place.
According to Bloomberg (Mark Gurman), Apple considered cutting about 5,000 support employees, believing SI agents would take over part of their work, but has postponed those plans "indefinitely" and "is not planning to do this now." A generative SI assistant already answers calls to 1-800-APL-CARE in the US and Canada: it advises and troubleshoots, and transfers to a live employee when necessary or at the customer's request. At the same time, the company cut about half a dozen middle managers.
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