I guess I am a broken record comparing the current profusion of AI-we-didn’t-ask-for and abuse dynamics, but here we go again. From a voice interaction! Just this morning.Bot female, moderately placating voice: OK Sadie, thanks for the information. So what can I help you with you with?
Me : With X.
Bot: OK, thanks Sadie, so you want help with Y.
Me: No. I want help with X.
Bot: Got it Sadie. So you want help with X. Can I just ask you, what do you want help with today?
Me: As I just told you, it’s X.
Bot matching my rising frustration, tone for tone: I hear you Sadie, you want help with X. Thanks for clarifying. Can I get your phone number?
Me: *already gave it but give it again*
Bot: Thanks Sadie. So to help you, I just need some information about what you need help with today.
Me: You are a bad, useless bot. You shouldn’t be here. You should go away. *hangs up*
It seems as if this has gotten worse in just the past few weeks. EVERYBODY in capitalism has rolled out something AI just to Not Fall Behind, and 90% of the time, that thing is useless and leads to rising frustration through overall worse service, with a good minority actively making the actual product worse.
My experience above was not one of those actively-worse cases, as such. No, it simply led me to call the one human I had on file related to the issue at hand, who promptly answered my question in less than 30 seconds and we were good (it was not a complicated matter). And without “hello Sadieing” me ad nauseum either!
Thank goodness I had an actual human on file. That bit reminded me of when you finally get out of an abusive relationship and then somehow manage to go on a date with a normal person again — you’re like, Is this how it’s really supposed to be by default?
This has been your interminable comparison-of-AI-being-pushed-everywhere-we-didn’t-ask-for-it-to-abuse thought of the day.
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