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I disagree about the ethics of this. This is no different than having your (human) assistant make an appointment for you. I'm assuming that if the machine can'

I disagree about the ethics of this. This is no different than having your (human) assistant make an appointment for you. I'm assuming that if the machine can't determine what to do next, a simple "I'm sorry I'll need to call you back" and notifying the user that they need to call manually is all that will be needed, much like how a (human) assistant that is faced with a question they can't answer alone will need to excuse themselves and call back at a later time with that information. Now obviously if this ends up wasting a significant amount of time for the business for no gain, I could see an argument about ethics, but making the receiving end aware it's a machine won't solve that problem. Also, I think making the "user" aware that they are talking to a machine might reduce it's capability significantly. As long as the person on the other end thinks it's human, it seems like it can do a pretty good job. Once the other side knows it's a robot, they will dumb themselves down to how they expect they should talk to a robot, which means they won't say things like "Is 10AM okay?" or "what kind of service do you want done?".

rayiner 8y ago
> I disagree about the ethics of this. This is no different than having your (human) assistant make an appointment for you. Except your assistant is a human, and this is not. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I get extremely upset when I'm called by a robot. (If it's important enough to call me, it's important enough for a human to call me.)
- fixermark 8y ago
  Is it possible the frustration is not because the voice on the other end of the line isn't human, but instead because past attempts at automated phone interaction sucked?
  - tptacek 8y ago
    It's a claim on his time that isn't accompanied by the show of good faith of a comparable claim on their time. If we were as cavalier about capturing someone's attention on the phone as we are about sending them emails, we'd have to stop taking phone calls from all unknown numbers full stop.
    - fixermark 8y ago
      Ah, okay. I'm possibly not picking up on that signal since in my personal life, I've stopped taking phone calls from all unknown numbers, full stop.
- Klathmon 8y ago
  But we're you called by a robot at your job it was it interrupting your personal time? I agree with you in the latter case, but the former seems like a win win assuming this system can deliver on what they are showing off here.

rayiner 8y ago

> I disagree about the ethics of this. This is no different than having your (human) assistant make an appointment for you. Except your assistant is a human, and this is not. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I get extremely upset when I'm called by a robot. (If it's important enough to call me, it's important enough for a human to call me.)

fixermark 8y ago
Is it possible the frustration is not because the voice on the other end of the line isn't human, but instead because past attempts at automated phone interaction sucked?
- tptacek 8y ago
  It's a claim on his time that isn't accompanied by the show of good faith of a comparable claim on their time. If we were as cavalier about capturing someone's attention on the phone as we are about sending them emails, we'd have to stop taking phone calls from all unknown numbers full stop.
  - fixermark 8y ago
    Ah, okay. I'm possibly not picking up on that signal since in my personal life, I've stopped taking phone calls from all unknown numbers, full stop.
Klathmon 8y ago
But we're you called by a robot at your job it was it interrupting your personal time? I agree with you in the latter case, but the former seems like a win win assuming this system can deliver on what they are showing off here.