I Want AI, Too. Actual Intelligence!

[MineralMan]

Since I was in the hospital for a few days, I've returned home and have had to make appointments for various things. Everywhere, something they call AI is picking up the phone. Trouble is that its really Artificial Stupidity. It doesn't understand my voice prompts and ends up hanging up on me. Some times I've gotten it to connect with a human being, after which I got something done.

It's not an improvement over the old voice activated menu systems. It's far worse, because the AI helper has a very small vocabulary and grammar system. It will not do anything except deal with the limited number of options it presents. If it cant help you, it thanks you and hangs up. There's no option available on the voice menu to switch to a human representative in these new AI helper apps.

So, let's campaign for real AI. Actual Intelligence. We used to have that.

[Walleye]

1. Artificial intelligence doesn't scare me nearly as much as genuine stupidity

[Attilatheblond]

2. Just spent 15 frustrating minutes on phone with pharmacy AI idiocy

I am over 70 so time at my age is no longer unlimited. I am computer functional and internet proficient, unlike the person who programmed the limited responses of the AI the pharmacy uses to prevent me from speaking to a person on a basic refill topic evidently above the AI phone service's pay grade and level of programming.

I have a doctor's appointment in an hour and she will NOT be happy with my blood pressure after the time I spent going in AI circles with a dipshit program that saves corporation money on payroll while making a basic service impossible.

There is no pharmacy alternative in my town that does not use stupid AI phone answering program that cannot be bypassed.

I used to like computers a lot. Now, with the all encompassing greed of corporations who hire half-assed IT people, I am considering life in a cave with no internet.

[MineralMan]

4. I was supposed to have a virtual visit with my doctor yesterday.

My system is working fine. there was my picture on my phone screen. I tested my mic and it was working. So, time came for the appointment, and the assistant called to establish the call. Trouble was that her mic wasn't working. I could just hear her as a whisper. I maxed the volume. She cut away three times, but couldn't get the meeting working.

I know the doctor very well, so I said, "Can you just have Dr.S. Call me directly, I can talk to him now or any time." "Oh," she said. "I'll try that."

30 seconds later and my doctor was on the line. We did our visit. He could view the test results, etc. from my recent hospital time, so we got done with the thing just fine. I've arranged to go see him in the office soon>

Why do we forget the old ways of talking to each other? Many old people can't handle technology much at all. Keep the old methods going!

Artificial Intelligence and tech interfaces just keep getting more and more stupid, I think.

[John1956PA]

3. Even Quora has a "Bot Assistant" which does not know its byte from a hole in the ground.

I used Google to search for interpretations of a short scene from "The Godfather" (1972). One of the top hits was a link to a Quora Bot AI answer which trashed the plotline of the story.

"Well that was an accident, but nobody got hurt."
Tom Hagen in "The Godfather."

[mr715]

5. The pharmacy AI is always a treat.

[MineralMan]

7. Yes. That's one stark example.

And everyone is dealing with that. "Can I refill my prescription?" If, 10 minutes later, you have to drive to the pharmacy to do that, you are pissed off! As far as I can tell, all the pharmacies are using the same broken system.

[mr715]

8. Do you scream "TALK TO A PHARMACIST!!!" too?

Then get "I can transfer you to the pharmacy, but I can actually help you with that!?"

[MineralMan]

9. No. I do not. I drive five minutes to the pharmacy and talk with someone

whose name I know. Then, I get what I need. I simply will not try any more with that broken AI system.

Fortunately, their automated automatic refill system works fine. They refill a week before I'm out, and send me a text. I drive up and pick the new stuff up. These days, I'm trying to bypass any interactions with AI customer service. If it improves, I might come back, but not until then.

They know it's not working. It has already cost them lots of money and it's going to cost a lot more to try to fix it. I say it's going to fail and fail hard! Many places have already laid off all of their human customer service staff. They were told that AI would work like a charm It does not.

[cksmithy]

6. Couldn't agree more.

My large chain pharmacy, that I am required to use, has an awful ai answering system. I now give weirdo answers, that it can't understand, allows ,me to only leave a message, never to speak to a person. An actual pharmacist does calls me back, usually within an hour. I would rather be put on hold for 5 minutes, then go through the bs to be able to leave a message. Ugh!

[kentuck]

10. AI is bullshit...

I just saw fake "Nicolle Wallace" and "Rachel Maddow" videos on You Tube. They use their voices but you can tell they are fake. But real enough to fool a lot of people, I suppose?

If nothing else, effective click bait.

[MineralMan]

11. YouTube Knows. AI IS ENTERTAINMENT and GENERATES CLICKS

It's no more than that, it seems. If that's it, it has already failed.