In this article we present the list of 30 Best Excuses to Get Out of Work Provided By AI Chatbots. Click to skip our detailed analysis of the state of the chatbot market today and jump right to the 10 Best Excuses to Get Out of Work Provided By AI Chatbots.
If you’re looking for some good excuses to get out of work for a week, or even just a day, and your human brain just can’t come up with anything that isn’t totally lame or cliche, perhaps AI is the answer.
AI chatbots have exploded into the public consciousness in the last year, driven by the November 2022 launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The renowned chatbot had more than 100 million active users within just two months of its launch and garnered 1.6 billion visits in June 2023 alone. The platform generates well-articulated and informative responses to just about any question posed to it, including believable sick day excuses. We have even used the platform to compile a list of ChatGPT’s top stock picks.
Given its controversial ability to generate everything from fake excuses to get out of work (as we’ll see below), to full-blown essays, to staggering misinformation, ChatGPT has been banned by several countries, including Italy, though that particular ban over privacy concerns has since been lifted.
While ChatGPT has attracted the lion’s share of public interest, it’s far from the only chatbot. Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE:ZEN)’s Zendesk Bots, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM)’s Einstein, International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s Watson Assistant, HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS)’s Chatbot Builder, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Bard, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Bing Chat are just a few of the other chatbots on the market.
Until now, the broader chatbot industry has largely been devoted to customer service applications, allowing websites to handle service requests, inquiries, and sales through an automated platform. The industry is still relatively small in size, at an estimated $5.13 billion in 2022 according to Grand View Research, but it’s expected to grow at an impressive 24% CAGR between 2023 and 2030. Social media chatbots are expected to be a strong growth driver for the industry, with their CAGR projected to be on par with the overall growth of the industry.
Zendesk’s Customer Service Bots
Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE:ZEN) Bots offers both standard and advanced bots to the company’s customers for implementation into their websites. The company’s advanced bots use AI to accurately recognize support requests and forward them to the proper channels. They also come with pre-trained understanding of customer intents in several industries, including financial services, software, and retail. Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE:ZEN) was acquired by a group of private equity firms in June 2022 for $10.2 billion after previously turning down a $17 billion takeover offer.
Salesforce’s Generative AI for CRM
Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM)’s Einstein GPT is billed by the company as the world’s first generative AI for CRM applications. The AI platform can generate emails and conversations based on real-time insights culled from customers’ business data, boosting sales and improving the customer experience. Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM)’s leading AI ecosystem, which also includes Slack GPT and Tableau GPT, helped the company grow revenue by 11% year-over-year to $8.25 billion in the quarter ended April 30. Free cash flow surged by 21% to $4.25 billion.
IBM’s Business-Focused AI Assistant
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s Watson Assistant uses deep learning and machine learning in combination with a natural language processing model that allows it to interact with customers in a conversational tone and accurately understand context and intent. The model also has an intelligent search function that can quickly scan documents and websites for the most concise and relevant answers. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)’s software revenue grew by 7.5% year-over-year during the company’s Q3 2023 period, hitting $5.81 billion and widely topping analysts’ estimates.
HubSpot’s Free AI Chatpot Tools
HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS)’s Chatbot Builder allows customers to choose from a range of chatbot templates or customize their own bot with features like meeting scheduling, leads qualifying, and task automation. The chatbots are fully integrated with HubSpot’s free CRM software, which includes additional features like analytics and email marketing, allowing the bots to be customized with personalized messages that pull information from an information database. HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) grew its first quarter earnings by 122% year-over-year to $1.20, while revenue jumped by 27% to $502 million. HubSpot Chief Executive Yamini Rangan believes generative AI is leading to a massive transformational shift in the market and that the company is well positioned to help customers optimize their operations through AI.
Bard Building on Years of Alphabet’s AI Research
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Bard is a generative AI chatbot in the vein of ChatGPT that uses a large language model to deliver conversational responses regarding everything from the latest developments surrounding the James Webb Space Telescope to 10 really unusual sick day excuses. Bard is not yet widely available or as popular as ChatGPT. Alphabet has been using AI for years to improve Google’s understanding of language and what the key aspects of a specific search question are so the engine can deliver the most relevant results. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) pulled in $62 billion in revenue in Q2 driven by growth in Search revenue, which has thus far withstood the challenge of AI chatbots.
Microsoft’s Browser-Based AI Chatbot
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Bing Chat is another AI chatbot that will be competing with ChatGPT and Bard. Bing Chat has numerous intriguing features that are either already implemented, or are in development. One of them is the chatbot’s ability to summarize long form online content into concise explanations. Another is the ability to compare various products, with the bot even utilizing tables to summarize the pertinent information of each product.
The Ithaka Group is bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s position in the generative AI market, having this to say about the company in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) builds best-in-class platforms and provides services that help drive small business productivity, large business competitiveness, and public-sector efficiency. Microsoft’s products include operating systems, cross-device productivity applications, server applications, software development tools, video games, and business-solution applications. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells devices, including PCs, tablets, and gaming/entertainment consoles that all integrate with Azure, its cloud computing service. In the quarter Microsoft’s stock appreciated on the back of excitement surrounding the company’s positioning in the generative AI market and its ability to monetize the coming wave of corporate investment in supercomputing and AI.”
AI chatbots have rapidly become a great source of random information, providing everything from a list of reasons for leave of absence from work to the most plausible family emergency excuses, and their capabilities are only scratching the surface of what they could eventually become, which has investors and consumers alike excited for the future of chatbots.
For now, let’s go ahead and check out the best excuses to get out of work as generated by the current iterations of two specific AI chatbots.
Our Methodology
The 30 Best Excuses to Get Out of Work Provided By AI Chatbots are ranked subjectively based on their plausibility and how applicable they are to the masses.
The lists provided by two different AI chatbots were used to compile the ranking, Google’s Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and each listing notes which chatbot came up with the idea. In cases where both chatbots had the same idea, we used the one that offered the better supporting reasoning and ways to implement the excuse. The chatbot that came up with the most quality excuses will be crowned the winner at the end of the article.
Note that Microsoft’s Bing Chat was also consulted but refused to provide any excuses, making it the least fun chatbot of the three. On with the excuses!
30 Best Excuses to Get Out of Work Provided By AI Chatbots
30 Best Excuses to Get Out of Work Provided By AI Chatbots
30. Religious holiday. If you celebrate a religious holiday that falls on a workday, you may need to take a day off work. This is a legitimate reason for missing work, and your boss should be understanding.
Chat Bot: Bard
This is a rather weak suggestion, as there would actually have to be a religious holiday taking place on the day in question for this excuse to have any merit, and there are relatively few of those on the calendar.
29. Need to buy urgent medication. If you need to buy urgent medication, you can use this as an excuse to miss work. Be sure to mention what the medication is for and how long it will take to get it.
Chat Bot: Bard
If you’re looking for one of the best excuses to get out of work for the day, this probably isn’t it. It would be hard to justify needing an entire day off simply to go buy medication.
28. Public Transportation Issues: "There's a major disruption in public transportation, and I won't be able to reach work on time."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
This is a poor excuse for multiple reasons. There would have to be a known issue with local public transportation (such as a workers’ strike) for this to fly, and even then, there are potentially several workarounds (other unaffected transportation options) that should still be able to get you to work.
27. Severe Weather: "Due to inclement weather conditions, it's unsafe for me to commute to work."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
This is another excuse that has extremely limited viability, as the weather would actually have to be quite extreme in your area for this to have any merit.
26. Legal Obligation: "I have to appear in court for a legal matter."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
This isn’t a terrible excuse on the surface, but it does run the risk of your employer asking into the nature of the legal matter, which they may even be required to do if such a matter is brought to their attention. As such, this excuse is probably too risky to use.
25. Interview. If you have a job interview, you may need to take a day off work to attend the interview. This is a legitimate reason for missing work, and your boss should be understanding.
Chat Bot: Bard
This is another excuse that isn’t terrible in a vacuum, but it would cause your employer to question your loyalty if they believe you to be out looking for other work. If you actually like your job and do intend to keep it for the foreseeable future, you probably don’t want your employer thinking otherwise.
24. Travel delays. If your flight or train is delayed, you may need to miss work. You can say that your flight was cancelled, that your train was delayed, or that you're stuck in traffic.
Chat Bot: Bard
Not one of the best excuses to get out of work as far as a train being delayed or being stuck in traffic goes. Unless you’re claiming the train is delayed by hours or that you’re stuck in the traffic jam of the century, those excuses aren’t going to buy you a day off work. A flight cancellation has more merit if you travel a lot for work, but isn’t going to be viable for the average worker.
23. Pregnant sickness. If you're pregnant and experiencing morning sickness or other pregnancy-related nausea, you can use this as an excuse to miss work. Be sure to mention how severe the nausea is and how long it's been going on.
Chat Bot: Bard
If you’re actually a biological female and pregnant, then this is undoubtedly one of the best excuses to get out of work. If you’re neither of those things, which probably applies to 98-99% of the population, then it’s rather useless.
22. Volunteer work. If you volunteer for a cause that you care about, you may need to take a day off work to volunteer. This is a legitimate reason for missing work, and your boss should be understanding.
Chat Bot: Bard
I wouldn’t be so sure about the boss being understanding. Your employer may appreciate that you do volunteer work, but not when it’s conflicting with your non-volunteer, I’m-paying-you-to-be-here work.
21. Training. If you need to attend training, you may need to take a day off work. This is a legitimate reason for missing work, but you'll need to make sure that you're able to make up the work.
Chat Bot: Bard
This could be an alright excuse in the right scenario, depending on what kind of work you do and whether training or certification courses could add valuable new skills to your repertoire. The downside is, your employer would probably want to know the specifics of the training as far as how it relates to your job, and then might expect you to add those tasks to your workload.
20. Deadlines. If you have a deadline that you need to meet, you may need to take a day off work to work on it. This is a legitimate reason for missing work, but you'll need to make sure that you're able to meet the deadline.
Chat Bot: Bard
Decent excuse in the right scenario, though it could also make your employer question your job performance if you’re claiming to be well behind on a project you perhaps shouldn’t be so far behind on.
19. Jury Duty: "I've been summoned for jury duty and have to report to the courthouse."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
It some ways it sounds like one of the most crazy and yet cliché excuses ever, but hey, it’s actually plausible if you live in an area where jury duty is a legal requirement.
18. Personal Counseling or Therapy: "I have a scheduled counseling/therapy session that I can't miss."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
This isn’t a bad excuse, whether it would justify a full day off work is the primary question. If you claim the appointment is smack dab in the middle of the day, leaving you only a couple hours to come in on either side of it, it could work.
17. Last-minute appointment. If you have a last-minute appointment that you can't reschedule, you can use this as an excuse to miss work. Be sure to mention what the appointment is for and how long it will take.
Chat Bot: Bard
As far as good excuses to get out of things last minute goes, this is one of the safest bets. Your employer may ask for the details and whether or not you can make it in at any point during the day however.
16. Muscle problems. If you have muscle problems, such as a pulled muscle or a sprain, you can use this as an excuse to miss work. Be sure to mention what happened and how long you need to rest.
Chat Bot: Bard
This is a pretty solid excuse in that it could be applied to many jobs and probably isn’t going to require any kind of doctor’s note to justify.
15. Car problems. If your car breaks down, you may need to miss work to get it fixed. You can say that your car broke down on the way to work, that you had to get it towed, or that you're waiting for a part to be delivered.
Chat Bot: Bard
Car problems is a relatively standard excuse, but not one of the best excuses to get out of work for the day, as it doesn’t necessarily explain why you can’t still get in to work via public transportation.
14. Sleepless Night: "I had a sleepless night due to unforeseen circumstances and need to rest."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
If you just need sick leave reasons for 1 day, this is a good excuse in the sense that there’s no way to disprove it. Whether or not your employer thinks you should just tough it out and work on little to no sleep anyway is another matter.
13. Technology Malfunction: "My computer crashed, and I won't be able to work remotely."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
This is one of best excuses to get out of work if you’re a remote worker and pretty much the standard go-to excuse. However, given the rising work capabilities of smartphones, it’s becoming harder to justify taking a day off work on the basis that your laptop or PC isn’t operational.
12. Car Accident: "I was involved in a minor car accident, and I need to handle the insurance process."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
A decent excuse, though the insurance process doesn’t take very long and the accident would have to have occurred before your shift (on the way to work presumably), potentially leaving plenty of time to still come in to work. You could ask for the day off on the basis of having to also take the car in to a shop to be looked at and/or yourself to a clinic to be examined.
11. Moving or Relocation: "I'm moving to a new residence and need to take care of moving-related tasks."
Chat Bot: ChatGPT
Claiming you have a moving day is a decent excuse to get out of work, unless your work has to mail you stuff, in which case it would cause issues.
In the second half of this article we’ll check out the ten best excuses to get out of work according to AI and declare which AI chatbot offered better slacker suggestions.
