'Chatbots' that work 24/7 for $1 an hour are taking over from human employees - because young people feel more comfortable talking to robots than REAL people'

  • Entrepreneur Adam Zelcer decided to use a robot in place of human salesperson
  • He said it had lifted the productivity of his business and was a sign of the future  
  • Research shows people prefer to message companies over ringing call centres

By Adam Mccleery For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

An Australian entrepreneur was looking to fill a vacancy in his company when he had a light bulb moment to create a robot that could do the job instead.

And they are working 24/7 at a cost of just $1 per hour. 

Adam Zelcer was going to hire a salesperson for his company Adboy.com but instead he decided to create a 'chatbot' and deploy it on Facebook messenger.

'The position needed to be filled but I didn’t want to pass sales labour costs over to my customers,' he said. 

Australian entrepreneur Adam Zelcer (pictured) was looking to fill a vacancy in his company when he had a light bulb moment to create a robot that could do the job instead

Australian entrepreneur Adam Zelcer (pictured) was looking to fill a vacancy in his company when he had a light bulb moment to create a robot that could do the job instead

'Initially I planned on solving the problem with outsourced live chat.

'But after writing up the sales script and FAQ I realised this could all be automated and that’s when I became an early adopter of chatbot technology.' 

After employing the chatbot to just answer questions automatically Mr Zelcer saw greater potential in the bot. 

'The chatbot I created was just going to be my sales guy but I quickly learned my clients could also use the technology to solve some of their problems,' he said.

'There has been a lot of chatbot rage since early 2016 when Facebook first announced its bot platform for Messenger. Up until recently, creating something practical has been reserved for big brands with deep pockets.' 

Now the chatbot technology is completing a number of tasks traditionally reserved for people and as a result Mr Zelcer said he had been creating more 'sales people', 'receptionists' and 'personal shoppers'.

'Robots can be trained to do many tasks better and more affordably than humans,' he said. 

'They also don’t sleep, get sick or take leave, they are always on and ready to talk to your customers.' 

Now the chatbot technology is completing a number of tasks traditionally reserved for people and as a result Mr Zelcer said he had been creating more 'sales people', 'receptionists' and 'personal shoppers'

Now the chatbot technology is completing a number of tasks traditionally reserved for people and as a result Mr Zelcer said he had been creating more 'sales people', 'receptionists' and 'personal shoppers'

Facebook research had shown Mr Zelcer that having an active chatbot to respond to online queries would boost his business. 

The research showed that 53 per cent of people would be more likely to shop with a business they could message directly.

And 56 per cent of people would actually rather message a company than call a centre.

Mr Zelcer said he had heard the criticism about the robots taking jobs away from people. 

'Many people have said my robots are job killers and I go on to explain that we’ve been here many times before,' he said.

'During the industrial revolution automation came in many forms like sewing machines to which the queen herself denied the inventor his patent over fears of unemployment.' 

Facebook research had shown Mr Zelcer that having an active chatbot to respond to online queries would boost his business. The research showed that 53 per cent of people would be more likely to shop with a business they could message directly

Facebook research had shown Mr Zelcer that having an active chatbot to respond to online queries would boost his business. The research showed that 53 per cent of people would be more likely to shop with a business they could message directly

He said at that time no factories were declining to use emerging technologies that would help with their productivity and it should be the same concept today.

'Like machines, customer service robots assist workers, they make your job easier and advance industries,' he said. 

He said there were clear advantages to employing robots that could help offset and perceived negatives.

'Businesses that use my robots will save on advertising and labour costs which would make a business more profitable,' he said. 

'Wages could be increased or prices could be reduced and money could be reinvested to create an increased demand leading to the need for more workers.' 

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