Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#481

Post by madrox » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:50 AM UTC

pbw wrote: post #411

This is really horrifying to me. My heart goes out to the working-class retail people who are going to have to spend their days chatting with the AI assistants of upper middle class people too busy to call themselves. If the shop owner gets a duplex system to field the calls, then the two robots can subtly signal to the other they aren't actually human, and then start shrieking like a 9600 baud modem to finish the di…

As someone who worked in tech support early in their career, I do not.

The entire process of fielding calls is terrible. You never know what's waiting for you when you pick up the phone. Could be someone with a terrible attitude that wants to take it out on you. I had coworkers who got PTSD, and a ringing phone would trigger it.

I would rather talk to a rational robot on the phone than a possibly irate human who, frankly, only wants something transactional from you and treats you like a robot.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#482

Post by indemnity » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:51 AM UTC

sowbug wrote: post #448

collinmanderson wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re businesses doing this today: I believe WeChat handles this very well in China.

It reminds me of the maybe apocryphal story how NASA invested time, money, and effort to develop a pen so astronauts could write in zero gravity, and the Soviets used pencils.

Both used pencils initially, and both switched to this same pen.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#483

Post by nfoz » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:52 AM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #456

This could be great to answer all the spam calls and keep them engaged so their costs shoots up.

The spammers are the ones who will have this technology, not the call receivers. Your honeypot is a drop in the bucket.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#484

Post by fanzhang » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:53 AM UTC

pbw wrote: post #411

This is really horrifying to me. My heart goes out to the working-class retail people who are going to have to spend their days chatting with the AI assistants of upper middle class people too busy to call themselves. If the shop owner gets a duplex system to field the calls, then the two robots can subtly signal to the other they aren't actually human, and then start shrieking like a 9600 baud modem to finish the di…

The store is still getting the customer, the retail rep is still getting the same call. What's so horrifying?

I see this as leveling the playing field -- upper middle class people can already afford real assistants a la Tim Ferris; this just lets everyone access it.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#485

Post by nfoz » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:53 AM UTC

nitwit005 wrote: post #367

The voice sounds nice, but successful runs aren't that interesting. If it gets a question it doesn't understand, what does it do, and how does it report it back to the user? It seems like the user is likely to get a certain number of confused recording sent back to them when it fails, and then get stuck manually calling back and explaining what happened.

Probably by leaving a real human confused or even upset.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#486

Post by indemnity » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:53 AM UTC

salehhamadeh wrote: post #479

nathan_f77 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound right. I think you'd pay something like $99 per month for a SaaS product that manages bookings and provides an API. That's how much the average receptionist earns in one day ($12.25 per hour.)

And $20,000 to get someone who knows how to install such a system to do the job.

What is installed when using a SaaS solution?

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#487

Post by miragle » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:54 AM UTC

bigiain wrote: post #434

pbw wrote: post #411

This is really horrifying to me. My heart goes out to the working-class retail people who are going to have to spend their days chatting with the AI assistants of upper middle class people too busy to call themselves. If the shop owner gets a duplex system to field the calls, then the two robots can subtly signal to the other they aren't actually human, and then start shrieking like a 9600 baud modem to finish the di…

At least this might ease some of the pressure on the housing market in the Bay Area. By transferring minimum wage workers jobs from San Francisco restaurants and shops to datacenters in Northern Virginia and North East Oregon, we can free up valuable real estate for FANG workers struggling to find a room to rent within the budget of somebody earning only $250k per year...

Is this a fucking joke?

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#488

Post by shubidubi » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:56 AM UTC

pbw wrote: post #411

This is really horrifying to me. My heart goes out to the working-class retail people who are going to have to spend their days chatting with the AI assistants of upper middle class people too busy to call themselves. If the shop owner gets a duplex system to field the calls, then the two robots can subtly signal to the other they aren't actually human, and then start shrieking like a 9600 baud modem to finish the di…

You need to worry more about the people who work in call centers who're about to lose their jobs soon.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#489

Post by shados » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:57 AM UTC

s73v3r_ wrote: post #406

nradov wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unfortunate that in 2018 we still have to resort to klugey work arounds like this with so many restaurants and hair salons instead of being able to make reservations online. There are services like OpenTable but even here in Silicon Valley only a small minority of restaurants use them. It seems like there's a huge opportunity if someone can crack the market.

I think it's more unfortunate that so many people are just so opposed to picking up the phone and talking to someone.

I don't mind talking to "someone". But I sure mind talking to customer service folks who have absolutely no interest in talking to me and make it as difficult as realistically possible.

Worse, they're probably gonna spend 3/4th of the time trying to sell me shit I don't want and make me fight against it.

Online, I can ignore any prompt and just click next next next finish, and the form won't be in a bad mood. I have no interest in talking to an annoyed clerk, and they obviously don't want to talk to me, so we can just avoid each other.

Re: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

#490

Post by wdr1 » Wed, May 09, 2018, 3:58 AM UTC

discordance wrote: post #426

pbw wrote: post #411

This is really horrifying to me. My heart goes out to the working-class retail people who are going to have to spend their days chatting with the AI assistants of upper middle class people too busy to call themselves. If the shop owner gets a duplex system to field the calls, then the two robots can subtly signal to the other they aren't actually human, and then start shrieking like a 9600 baud modem to finish the di…

I do feel for them, but at the same time we have these unintentional designs and systems that cause a lot of suffering all over the place. For example, I was kept on hold for 2 hours the other day to try and sort out being double charged on my bankcard. If this sort of service can handle hold, then i'm in.

Or cancelling your cable.