Apple Significantly Raises Their Prices

Let’s Recap:

• Microsoft introduces a troubleshooting agent
• Cloudflare says AI agents are a growing risk to small business
• Apple raises prices
• Automated service bots are annoying customers
• AI-generated influencers are on the rise

Microsoft’s Next Big Thing for the Cloud: An Agent That Keeps its Cool When Everything Falls Apart

Microsoft is offering a solution to tackle cloud outages – Azure Copilot Observability Agent. The AI assistant is designed to help engineers troubleshoot outages and system failures, mitigating their stress levels when things go awry. The agent analyzes logs, metrics, traces, and other data to identify likely causes of problems across complex cloud environments. Though the ACO Agent cannot autonomously resolve problems, it can provide the diagnosis for engineers to get a handle on and readily fix. “Agents are a little bit less emotionally attached,” said Brendan Burns, Microsoft’s corporate VP. In its preview phase since last year, the ACO Agent is available now. (Source: GeekWire)

Why this is important for your small business:

Many small businesses are focused on using AI for customer service, accounting, analysis and marketing. But the reality is that AI agents are most popular in the IT world, where they are being used to troubleshoot and solve issues. It’s important to ask your IT provider how they’re using agents to make sure your data is protected. Agents may be able to reduce your costs but more importantly the best IT firms are using them to provide a higher level of service.

Cloudflare CEO Warns AI Agents Threaten Small Business

Small business owners across the country are embracing and leveraging AI. But Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is warning that AI could harm their operations. More specifically, Prince said the rise of autonomous AI agents could make it increasingly difficult for small businesses to compete and win customers. “Imagine you’re a small business and you’re trying to convince an agent to buy from you,” Prince said. “How do you do that?” As AI agents begin making purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers, smaller firms could struggle to persuade those agents to choose their products. Prince cautioned that this could become a continuing trend – greater market concentration and fewer new entrants. Ultimately, success may depend less on convincing people and more on being visible and accessible to autonomous AI. (Source: Let’s Data Science)

Why this is important for your small business:

This doesn’t concern me as much. Why? Because a growing number of technology companies are already rolling out agentic AI for their small business customers to use and this usage grows over time I have little doubt that these businesses will employ these agents to go head-to-head with their competitors. Prince says: “Imagine you’re a small business and you’re trying to convince an agent to buy from you How do you do that?” Easy – by subscribing to another agentic AI that could talk to these “buying” agents better than we can.

Apple CEO Warns Price Rises ‘Unavoidable’ Amid AI Boom

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that “price increases are unavoidable,” because the AI boom is driving up the cost of memory and storage chips. For example, the article detailed, the cost of the company’s iPhone Pro model would be increased by $270 to maintain its current profit margin. Cook said the company has tried to shield customers from rising prices, but that effort has become “unsustainable.” He described the current market conditions as a “hundred-year flood.” Cook’s comments are another example of AI being a double-edge sword for consumers. With the surging demand for storage chips, it’s putting the pressure on suppliers of consumer electronics – smartphones, laptops, and other devices. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Why this is important for your small business:

Prices are going up thanks to chip shortages and other inflationary pressures. And it’s not just Apple. Most hardware and device manufacturers have been hiking prices over the past couple of years.

Customers are Losing Patience with Automated Customer Support Bots

The customer service realm can be a complicated mixture of resourcefulness and aggravation. According to agentic AI company Parola, consumers are increasingly frustrated with poorly designed automated customer service experiences. The company released data from its report “Customer service automation has a trust problem,” which showed that a majority of customers (60 percent) will repeat themselves only once before ditching a customer service bot. More than half (56 percent) said they would spend less than three minutes in an automated system before asking for a live representative. Other shared frustrations included long hold times, being transferred multiple times, and having to repeat information to different agents. Simply, people want easier access to human help. The report is an important study for companies that deploy these systems to learn if it’s causing customers to disengage. (Source: CX Dive)

Why this is important for your small business:

The problem with humans is that we oftentimes go too far. Take AI customer service tools. Some businesses are under the delusion that AI can replace their customer service teams, when this couldn’t be further from the truth. People prefer to talk with people, particularly if their issue is complicated or significant. AI bots can create even more angst for a customer. The smart approach is to let the caller know right upfront that they’re talking to a bot and give them the option to immediately speak to a human when they prefer. If just 20% of calls are handled by a bot that’s a huge win. You don’t need to do it all.

Brands Using AI-Generated Influencers to Promote Products on Social Media

Sarah Marsh of The Guardian reported on intriguing findings from the social media sphere: brands are increasingly using AI-generated influencers and fake customer personas to market products on social media – often without disclosing that the people depicted are not real. Not only are they fake humans – they’re going mainstream – often without disclosure. Many consumers can’t tell the difference which brings up the ongoing concerns about transparency and trust. Marsh reported that some of these content creators are being asked to signed NDAs further obscuring their marketing efforts. According to Lisa Barber, editor of the UK outlet Which? – 70 percent of people failed to correctly identify all real and fake videos shown to them. Presently there are no clear mandates requiring that brands disclose the use of AI when marketing a product – thought that may change if AI continues to erode consumer trust. To see Marsh’s full report, visit the link. (Source: The Guardian)

Why this is important for your small business:

Fake AI people are being developed at a rapid pace and already by used to create movies and short videos. There’s no question that AI humans will be available to act as influencers – a much cheaper and potentially more effective way for small businesses to market their products.

Note: Have a technology story that small business owners should know about? Don’t mind me sharing my opinion? Share it with me on X @genemarks.