Dukaan CEO cops backlash for post announcing layoffs: ‘Stunning lack of empathy’

Suumit Shah, founder and CEO of Dukaan

Dukaan, a DIY platform that allows merchants with zero programming experience to set up their own e-commerce store, has become the latest company to axe part of its human workforce due to AI.

Dukaan founder and CEO Suumit Shah revealed that 90% of the company’s support staff has been laid off after the introduction of an AI chatbot to answer customer support queries. In a Twitter thread shared Monday, Shah explained that resolution time went down to 3 minutes and 12 seconds from the previous 2 hours and 13 minutes after the introduction of Dukaan’s own AI assistant.

“We had to layoff 90% of our support team because of this AI chatbot,” Shah wrote, branding it a “tough” but “necessary decision.”

Asked if the laid-off staff were provided with any assistance, he brushed off the query saying further details on layoffs would be revealed in his 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,” he wrote.

“Also – ‘it was tough decision’” he added with a heartbreak emoji – emphasis on “tough decision” was his own, not ours.

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"

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— Suumit Shah (@suumitshah) July 10, 2023

He said the company had long been struggling with customer support and the AI revolution seemed to him like an opportunity to fix the issue. The idea was to come up with “Dukaan's own AI assistant, which would answer customer queries instantly and precisely, anywhere,” he wrote.

Shah said that Dukaan Lead Data Scientist Ojasvi Yadav built a chatbot that could answer almost all common questions about Dukaan instantly and accurately. However, the bot struggled with answering account-specific questions like “why has my payout been pending for 2 days?”

“A day later, he came up with another demo and this time bot answered both generic as well as account-specific questions, instantly,” wrote the CEO of Dukaan.

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

The chatbot, named Lina, has marked over 1400 support tickets as resolved – but that was only the beginning of Dukaan’s AI revolution, says Shah.

Since then, the company has come up with a platform that gives each users their own AI assistant. “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,” the CEO wrote in describing this platform.

Nearing the end of his thread, Shah said that Dukaan is hiring for multiple roles in AI, product design and e-commerce.

However, the CEO of Dukaan has copped backlash for his thread which many criticised as “insensitive” – especially for his response to a Twitter user’s query aboout assistance provided to laid off employees.

Suumit, the criticism isn't against your actions. AI would inevitably lead to job loss. The criticism is against how the thread is phrased because it shows a lack of empathy! Hope you, in your own ways, helped the folks who were laid off.

— Mohak Mangal (@mohakmangal) July 11, 2023