Will RetellAI.com kill the customer service industry?, I lost $600 on my AI Dentist, and more

Have you seen this thing called Retail AI? No. Okay, so Gary Tan, who is— he's basically running Y Combinator now, and he basically said this is the best demo we saw in our last class. So they basically do like Demo Day where they— a bunch of startups will pitch, right? So this retailai.com— so it's R-E-T-E-L-L-A-I.com. You know how I talked about air.ai, like the, the, the sales agent, right? Or the Customer service agent. You can go to this thing and test it out, and there's a playground you can run, and you can run it for the— they have 2 demos. One is like for a customer support agent, the other one's for like getting, uh, like a dental agent. So if you're trying to make an appointment at a dentist, um, which we'll speak about in a second, this dovetails well into that. But talking to it, it's, it's near perfect. It's like, it's like, okay, so tell me what time you like to book for this time. It's like, well, I can't make it tomorrow. It's like, okay, well, we have these times available. Um, would that be— would that work for you? And it's like, it's like, oh, also tell us your name, blah, blah, blah. It collects all the information and it's able to, um, it's pretty dynamic, right? And this is the best version I've seen. It's called, um, the headline here, it says, excuse me, it says conversational voice API for your LLM. So this is going to reduce a lot of sales agents, customer service agents.

Yeah.

This is just where it's all going. Um, and I think those of you that run agencies, you're going to do this for other companies right now. You have a nice little, um, pocket of time where you can be the one basically transforming companies with AI.

Did they raise a lot of money?

I think they raised— well, no, no, I, I don't think they raised a lot yet. They're backed by YC. I don't even know if they raised their seed round yet.

Uh, retail.ai funding amount $500K.

That's the seed round.

Yeah, that means it probably will raise a ton of money if, if he said that this was the best demo that they've ever seen.

I'm sure all the VCs have just gone and say, hey, we want to put money in now.

Well, economy's bad, so, you know, who knows if there's a recession or not.

Not for AI companies, it's not bad.

That's true, not for AI companies.

By the way, Neil and I have an agency owners group called the Agency Owners Association. All you have to do, just go to marketingschool.io/agency. Once again, it's marketingschool.io/agency to learn more. And now back to the show.

Speaking of the dental example and AI, did you see my tweet how I lost $600 'cause of AI?

I saw that, tell them.

So, I went to a dentist and in LA, everything is just expensive. So, for me to go get like my teeth cleaning, dude, do you know it costs $600? I don't know where you go.

You're getting ripped off. I pay like $100 or something.

Well, I'm going down the street.

Oh, you're doing it in Beverly Hills. I go back to my people in Arcadia and I get it for $125. I go to the Hello Kitty dentist.

Dude, to save the money because I know it's so expensive, I don't drive.

I walk to save the gas money. Wow.

Wow.

But hey, it's about convenience. See, I do it to also see my parents too. So it works out.

Yeah. And this is like, it's just easy for me to go down the street than go to drive to a different place.

That's expensive.

$600 for a cleaning, right?

Yeah.

So I get a cleaning. And then I also pay to get—

Dude, that's 5 times more than what I pay.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. And then I also pay to— and I have insurance. I don't know what insurance covers. But the place makes me pay 100%. And then whatever insurance sends you back, you get to keep. I was like, all right.

You know, I didn't really argue.

I didn't care. But it was really cool too. I got to watch Netflix while they're cleaning my teeth. There was like TV monitors.

Who gives a crap, dude? Just clean it and get out of my way.

No, trust me, I'd rather save the money. So they also charged me for x-rays, which is great. So, and the reason I had to do x-rays is because I was switching dental offices. I used to live in Vegas, now I live in Beverly Hills. So hence, you know, new place, they want the x-rays or whatever. I was like, whatever, just do it. So I get it done and the dude shows me this cool AI software that they use, has my teeth and all the images and even shows the nerves in the tooth, which is really cool. So it shows where the tooth connects to the gum on the bottom, right? Because your tooth, you got a square and then 2 little prongs that go down. And he was saying like, in my molar teeth right there, there's like this pocket and they can't identify. And he's circling the pocket and he's like, look what our new technology and AI identify. He's like, We don't know what this is. It could be bacteria, it could be something. The AI recognized it. Your nerve isn't going all the way down. You got a problem here. I want to send you to the specialist. I was like, all right, what does the specialist charge? And you know, I'm Indian, I like saving. I'm not trying to stereotype, but like, I don't want to spend money for no reason. And he's like, you got pain in your teeth? I was like, no, no pain. He's like, look, you know, I don't know what it is, but the AI is detecting it. I'm going to book you an appointment. So they tell their staff, and this other office in Beverly Hills texts me while I'm still at the office. I was like, all right, and it's automated, set up appointment, book it. Funny enough, they told me the same thing. Hey, no problem. Just as a heads up, you got to pay $600 for the appointment for us to take 3D scans.

On top of your original $600?

Different dental place. Okay. And the original place cost more than $600 because I also got scans. So cleaning plus scans, whatever the price was. So I go to this other place. And It was yesterday, which is when I put out the tweet. They charged me $600 just for a 3D scan. So this lady, lovely lady, she was nice. She's doing it. We're just small chatting. She was telling me about a new coffee shop here. I was like, oh, I don't really drink coffee. Actually, I don't drink coffee at all. She's like, oh, okay. And she's looking at the teeth. She's like, she's like, yeah, I know what their software analyzed and said there could be something there. I was like, so what was it? You gotta tell me. She's like, bone. I'm like, what do you mean? A bone that's out of place? And I have no pain. It's like, no, no, just your normal bone that's everywhere within your mouth. So I was like, okay, so what is it? What was it saying? Like, what's wrong with the bone? She's like, nothing. It just couldn't identify it and it's bone.

Wow.

So this AI couldn't identify bone in my mouth, which is everywhere in my head. And I ended up spending $600 for her to just double-check. I was like, cool, great use of technology. And you know what? I was so pissed. I walked back home too. So I didn't spend money on gas or Uber or anything like that.

You know what that shows again? Short-term bearish, long-term bullish on AI.

Yes. I was really pissed about the $600, and I'm not going to argue with them or trying to get it back. It's a lot of money. Yeah, I can afford it, but having that attitude of just spending money is how you go broke. I don't want to waste money if I don't need to. I just felt I flushed not just $600 down the drain, I also wasted 30 minutes walking there, 30 minutes walking back, plus around 40 minutes for my appointment. So I wasted an hour and 40 minutes plus $600.

Yeah.

Wow. And it was a little bit chilly.

So what did you tell the original doctor?

I didn't say anything. I was pissed though, but I'm okay with the original doctor. You know, his technology is not that great even though he's using AI. The original doctor didn't know what was wrong. And he did even say like, hey, I can't figure it out. The technology is showing something. It's really cool. Look on this screen. And he's like, you should get it checked out just in case. I've had perfect teeth. I've never had a cavity.

Me either.

Literally once in my life.

Your teeth are super white too.

Yeah. So I also don't drink coffee. Do you drink coffee?

I drink tea.

I don't drink tea or coffee.

I drink like non-caffeinated tea. So I don't really drink coffee either.

But tea, I think stains the color of your teeth. Yeah. So I don't have those issues. But, you know, and then I brush at least twice a day, sometimes 3 times a day. The dentist did tell me that I should start flossing in the morning. I was like, why do you floss in the morning? I floss at night. In the morning, there's no food in my mouth.

Yeah.

And then he was like, well, there's bacteria buildup between your teeth. So if you floss, it keeps your teeth even healthier. I was like, all right.

Dude, what floss do you use?

Uh, he gave me— I used to use this floss called Burst.

Yeah.

And then he switched me onto this new one. I forgot what it was, but it helps prevent cavities.

So I— You gotta use the Cocofloss.

Does it help prevent cavities?

Dude, see, that's all marketing. It just prevents cavities. No, Cocofloss is like super thick.

Yeah, mine is thick.

It doesn't break.

Yeah, mine is thick.

It's like $30 for a little box or something.

My like one of them is, I don't know how much, like $6 or $12 for one little circle.

Dude, it's just, it's, uh, at the end of the day, it's like people are just marketing these things. The sleep tape now, there's like super expensive sleep tape called like hostage tape. There's the Cocofloss, $30 for one. It's like everything's just like going higher and higher. Um, it's marketing, dude.

Everyone's spinning. And you know what's funny?

We should talk about this.

Yeah, well, we have— but no, dude, check this out. If I went to a dentist again and his AI software detected something, You know what's funny? I probably would go spend the money just to double-check to make sure it's okay.

You would. And so maybe people will make AI software and say, hey, this actually doubles your revenue at your— yeah, right? Because it comes up with all these like false positives.

Yes, in the long run, I do think it'll be accurate or more accurate, but in the short run, I was definitely pissed off about the money I spent.

This message is brought to you by Single Grain. Single Grain is a marketing agency ran by yours truly. Single Grain does paid media, SEO, creative, conversion rate optimization, and has worked with a handful of companies such as Uber, Amazon, Airbnb, Salesforce, to startups, venture-backed startups, a lot of different companies. And ultimately our mission is to do innovative marketing that drives customers. If you want to learn more, just go to singlegrain.com. Again, it's Single Grain, grain like wheat, and we'll see you on the other side. Actually, this is a good place to end with our, with the water. We were talking about pre-show. So those of you that I can see on camera, so Neil's drinking the Aquapana glass water. I'm drinking a Mountain Valley glass water. First, let's start with the marketing of glass water. Why are we drinking glass water?

Because Eric sends me these articles that go viral on social media on how I have too much plastic in my body.

Yeah, okay. So, 1 liter, guys, 1 liter of plastic over here, I'm holding a 1 liter bottle, has 250,000 microplastics in it. And who knows what that does to you, right? So, like, then I messaged, I was like, Neil, what about your kids? So, I'm marketing to the future, right? And then he's like, oh, damn it. And so then he buys a bunch of glass water, right? And then I keep reinforcing it now. So to reinforce how I think about it, now I tell my family members, my friend members, so then it reinforces me to keep getting it, right? But the other thing is, if you're gonna buy glass water, you can't just buy regular glass water. You have to buy classy glass water, right? Or like high quality. Aquapana and Mountain Valley is perceived to be high quality.

Dude, and it's so expensive. So like my house is really tiny, my condo. I have enough bedrooms for my kids and my wife and I. And to give you an idea of the size, there's no room for us to even iron our clothes. So we iron our clothes in the entryway or the hallways. Like, we don't have a ton of space, to give you an idea. And our closets in our kids' room is like the width of 2 chairs. No joke. Like 2 of those metal chairs that you see at a conference.

Yeah.

Not like the fancy big chairs that we're sitting on right now, but no joke. So like, I buy the water. It costs, I don't know, $2, $3 a bottle for glass.

For those?

For like tiny ones, yeah.

Really?

I was getting it delivered. So I'm gonna start going to the store 'cause it was just so expensive. And I'm buying it only because Eric is saying this and I can't fit one of those water purification systems. There's no room underneath my sink.

Wait, you don't— what? That's like this big. It's not that big. It's like this big.

The one you sent me was massive.

No, that I put it on the actual like the counter.

Oh, I don't want anything on my counter.

Why?

I don't have space on my counter as it is for food.

Well, anyway, this all started because people are just like Andrew Huberman, always like microplastics, this like causes cancer, this and that, right?

But it's marketing.

It's all storytelling.

Yes. And now, when one of my buddies came to my house who I've had a longtime friend, Dovell, who you know, he's drinking all the bottles of water, which I don't mind. Then the dude just starts drinking like half of it, and he leaves it there, leaves it, and doesn't know which one's his. So he just goes and pours the water. I'm like, dude, I'm paying two three dollars a bottle. I don't care if you drink it. Drink as much as you want. Don't waste my money.

It's hard earned. It's the same reason why I didn't like spending.

Yeah, it's like why I didn't like spending six hundred dollars to go to a dentist, and I walked because I didn't want to waste some money. It's the same reason when I was drunk and young, and I was at a nightclub, and I spent thousands of dollars on bottle service. I walked home in Vegas in the middle of night.

I was so mad that I.

I spent the money. I had to save it on the taxi fare.

See, this is a good way to end. Everyone, at the end of the day, doesn't matter what we say, you have to think for yourself, right? And who knows if we're right or wrong? We could be total idiots in the next couple years and we could come back to this video and say you guys were stupid. But that's it for today. Please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe. Go to marketingschool.io/agency to apply for the Agency Owners Association to help your agency grow faster, and we'll see you tomorrow.