AI doing work of 250 people at energy firm Octopus, says boss

ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is already doing the work of 250 people at a major energy firm just three months after being deployed, the company’s chief executive has revealed.

Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson wrote in The Times that the company first started using AI to answer customer emails in February.

He said the computer-generated responses delivered 80 per cent customer satisfaction rates – considerably above the 65 per cent rate achieved by its human staff.

Mr Jackson claimed the use of AI is “unlikely” to lead to job losses at Octopus but said the company, which is the country’s third-biggest energy supplier, is planning much more extensive use of the technology within weeks.

He said: “By last week, 34 per cent of customer emails were answered by AI. That’s the work of about 250 people. Assisted by the AI, our team have been able to deliver improved service – phone answer times dropping, satisfaction increasing. At Octopus it’s unlikely to lead to job losses as we are growing so rapidly.

“But other companies are not in this position. In just 16 weeks, Octopus’s AI has gone from answering zero customer messages to doing the work of 250 people. And doing it very well. The pace of change is unprecedented and represents the first significant threat of AI. The disruption to ‘office jobs’ could be, indeed will certainly be, vast and swift.

“Of course, every industrial technology revolution has seen some careers lost and new ones created – driving growth overall but with real human casualties. With the speed of AI progress, we need to be ready for huge and rapid dislocation.

“That’s not the worst. Today, Octopus AI writes messages, but soon (in weeks) it’ll make decisions and carry out actions too. It won’t just tell you your balance but will also suggest a change in payments and do it for you. It’ll order your meter installation or spot a vulnerability and send you an electric blanket.”

Mr Jackson said he shares concerns about how developments in AI could be used by “bad actors” in fields such as hacking and compared the rollout to weapons “going from muskets to missiles, everywhere, all at once”.

He added: “We face the most rapid economic dislocation in history, a tool that could enable bad guys to wreak carnage, and the unleashing of super-intelligence that will pursue its objectives at any cost.

“We can’t put the genie back in the bottle, and it’s certainly not all bad. But we need to stop wandering into this in blithe ignorance, leaving it to a few cyber-idealists and slick salesmen telling us all it’ll be great, because without rapid action, it probably won’t.”

His comments follow a recent report by investment bank Goldman Sachs which predicted that Generative Artificial Intelligence, which is essentially able to create content indistinguishable from human work, could ultimately replace the equivalent of 300 million jobs with a particular impact in areas such as administrative work.

But the Goldman Sachs report also said the technology may result in the creation of new jobs and fuel a global productivity boom.