The bewildering phenomenon of declining quality

There's nothing bewildering about this.

It's a logical step in the chain after having fully imbibed neoclassical economics and its bullshit.

the author seems to defend the AI-ification of customer service, lol

Bewildering. No one who runs anything knows anything. Anyone who knows anything is doing not leading.

This is exactly how post-capitalism was predicted to go. As consolidation eliminates competition, there's no reason to maintain quality. If it's crap or nothing, people have to buy the crap.