Client-Service Representatives (CSRs) are vital to organizations. Frequent interactions with disgruntled clients, however, disrupt their mental well-being. To help CSRs regulate their emotions while interacting with uncivil clients, we designed Pro-Pilot, an LLM-powered assistant, and evaluated its efficacy, perception, and use. Our comparative analyses between 665 human and Pro-Pilot-generated support messages demonstrate Pro-Pilot's ability to adapt to and demonstrate empathy in various incivility incidents. Additionally, 143 CSRs assessed Pro-Pilot's empathy as more sincere and actionable than human messages. Finally, we interviewed 20 CSRs who interacted with Pro-Pilot in a simulation exercise. They reported that Pro-Pilot helped them avoid negative thinking, recenter thoughts, and humanize clients; showing potential for bridging gaps in coworker support. Yet, they also noted deployment challenges and emphasized the irreplaceability of shared experiences. We discuss future designs and societal implications of AI-mediated emotional labor, underscoring empathy as a critical function for AI assistants in front-office roles.

I'm told I should prepare for the day an artificial intelligence takes my job. This will leave me either destitute and rootless or overwhelmed by a plenitude of time and existential terror, depending on whom you ask. It's apparently time to consider what kind of work only humans can do, and frantically reorient ourselves toward those roles -- lest we be left standing helplessly, as if at the end of some game of robot musical chairs. Emotional labor is a form of work less often considered in these automated future projections. Perhaps this is because the work it takes to smile at a rude customer or to manage their distress is intangible, difficult to quantify and monetize.

Soul Machines has discussed services for the elderly with prospective clients but has not announced any partnerships on that subject to date, says chief business officer Greg Cross. Soul Machines envisions a future in which digital instructors educate students without access to quality human teachers, and in which famous deceased artists are digitally resurrected to discuss their works in museums. Robot companions for the infirm, then, are not too far a leap. Nor is the prospect of a future in which a family converses with the lively AI recreation of a person suffering from dementia, while a caregiver--robot or human--tends to their ailing body in another room. The potential for deception is already here. A few years ago, Brent Lawson, the president of 1 AM Dolls, a manufacturer of life-sized rubber sex dolls, was on the phone with a client who wanted a specific doll he'd seen on the company's website. The man was particularly concerned that the doll's hair was just so, and peppered Lawson with questions about the color and style, Lawson told Quartz.

Spirit AI is using artificial intelligence to combat toxic behavior in game communities. The London company has created its Ally social intelligence tool to decipher online conversations and monitor whether cyberbullying is taking place. It is the brainchild of researchers at New York University, according to Mitu Khandaker, creative partnerships director at Spirit AI and an assistant arts professor at the NYU game center. The company uses AI, natural language understanding, and machine learning to help data science and customer service teams to understand the general tenor of an online community. It also helps predict problems before they escalate.

The idea of artificial tends to strike fear in the hearts of workers who suspect they'll be replaced by robots. The reality is more nuanced. There is no question some jobs will be lost. But others will be created, and still others will morph into something different -- bot designer, bot supervisor, soother of the most irate customers. In some cases, AI will just take on extra work nobody wants to do.

I'm told I should prepare for the day an artificial intelligence takes my job. This will leave me either destitute and rootless or overwhelmed by a plenitude of time and existential terror, depending on whom you ask. It's apparently time to consider what kind of work only humans can do, and frantically reorient ourselves toward those roles -- lest we be left standing helplessly, as if at the end of some game of robot musical chairs. Emotional labor is a form of work less often considered in these automated future projections. Perhaps this is because it's intangible, difficult to quantify and monetize.

Although Jibo, designed by MIT professor Cynthia Breazeal to be the "world's first family robot," isn't set to ship until 2015, folks are already excited about this little bot with a "big personality." While there's much to be said for Breazeal's vision of "humanizing technology" so that the smart home of the future doesn't "feel cold and computerized," we might want to pause a bit before rushing to build the type of world depicted in the movie Her. Although it is easy to imagine we'll be better off when we've got less to do, we don't actually know the existential and social implications of outsourcing ever-more intimate tasks to technology. Jibo may be the "closest thing to a real life teleportation device," but as a prototype it currently has limited functionality. It can "take photos or video, track movements for more dynamic video filming, perform stories for children, give verbal reminders, and generally hang out."