4 ms·

You beat me. I want assistant to deal with robocalls and phone trees for me. I don't want assistant to annoy people.

by throw7 8y ago

daveFNbuck 8y ago
Unless you can perfectly predict which calls are robocalls, assistant will end up talking to real people. If people know they're talking to a robot, there's a good chance they'll be annoyed.
- Ajedi32 8y ago
  Why would I be annoyed at talking to a smart answering machine? Seems at the very least no worse than hearing a prerecorded message and leaving a voicemail, provided the conversation goes as naturally as it did in the demos Google showed on stage. Assistant: "Hello, you've reached Dave's personal assistant. Dave's not available right now, can I take a message?" Bob: "No, just tell him to call me back as soon as he can." Assistant: "Okay. Can I ask who's calling?" (Bob was not in Dave's contacts list.) Bob: "It's Bob Jones." Assistant: "Alright, I'll let him know." Bob: "Okay, bye." Perfectly natural conversation, and provides a much nicer user experience for Dave when he checks his missed calls. (Notification: "Call from: 444-444-4444 Bob Jones says 'tell him to call me back as soon as he can'")
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    That's perfectly fine as long as it identifies itself as a robot: "Hi, this is Dave's automated assistant..." A big part of what creeps people out is the notion of bots impersonating humans.
    - Ajedi32 8y ago
      What's so creepy about that? If I can get the same quality of service talking to a bot as I can to a person, why should I care what it is I'm talking to? Unless you mean impersonating a _specific_ human (e.g. if my personal assistant were pretending to be me) I don't really see the issue.
      - Balgair 8y ago
        I mean, all humans are specific humans. How could a bot not impersonate a specific human? It would be impersonating your assistant, who may not exist in the first place, but the bot is trying to get others to think that the person is a real person with real feelings. That duplicitousness is the problem. Like, other people are real people too, not just sheeple (terrible term that it is).
        Ajedi32 8y ago
        Why does it matter if I mistakenly think the answering machine bot is a real person? Assuming I can treat it like a real person and still get the results I want, why should I care one way or the other?
        Balgair 8y ago
        Because it is not a person. It's a machine. There is no shared experience, it doesn't have experiences, it's sand and metal. Like, a really smart parrot is not a person, right? Even if the parrot could be an answering machine, it would not be due respect and it would not respect you back; because it's a parrot. I think the issue is that the answer-bot is inherently disrespectful to the real human. Just using one at all is like saying to the real person:"You are not worthy of the time and/or respect of a real human; talk to this clever metal parrot." Text devices and digital sign-ups are at least 'equal', though the transaction is sterile. Trying to fake that a person is talking to a bot is disrespectful of that other real person and their time; it's trying to pull one over on them and fake them into thinking that the bot's owner is worthy, but that the other real person is not worthy. Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them, and you should respect their decision because they are a real person too, not try to pull a fast one.
        Ajedi32 8y ago
        Why do I need to have "shared experiences" with the person I'm ordering pizza from? I'm trying to order pizza, not get a date. It's not about "worthiness" or anything as elitist as that either; I just want to buy a pizza. > Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them Or that they can't afford to build an online order service? I seriously doubt the guy working the counter at my local pizza restaurant has any particular desire to speak to me personally.
  - daveFNbuck 8y ago
    That's basically the same thing that happens now with existing phone systems at large companies and people hate it. It's a very common complaint.
    - Ajedi32 8y ago
      That's only because they're a pain in the neck to deal with. If we're talking about an AI so good that you can barely even tell it's not human, I think that'd be much less of a problem.
      - daveFNbuck 8y ago
        A lot of people feel differently about that, as evidenced by the varied reactions to Duplex.
- rbanffy 8y ago
  Is there a reason to be annoyed? It's not very different from leaving a message with the possible exception you'll have a higher chance of having your message coming through (voice mail is where my inbound calls go to die)
pixelpoet 8y ago
I want this too, but it leads me to worry that in the not too distant future, poor people will deal mostly with robots in a sort of 2nd apartheid where social status dictates how many humans you can reach.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  We're already in the situation where the only solution for a Gmail account being permanently hosed by some automated system is knowing someone at Google or having a million twitter followers.
s2g 8y ago
But then you have to tell your assistant what you need done. Then it has to navigate through the maze. This sounds great, but seems fraught with failure.

You beat me. I want assistant to deal with robocalls and phone trees for me. I don't want assistant to annoy people.

by throw7 8y ago

You beat me. I want assistant to deal with robocalls and phone trees for me. I don't want assistant to annoy people.

Unless you can perfectly predict which calls are robocalls, assistant will end up talking to real people. If people know they're talking to a robot, there's a good chance they'll be annoyed.

Ajedi32 8y ago
Why would I be annoyed at talking to a smart answering machine? Seems at the very least no worse than hearing a prerecorded message and leaving a voicemail, provided the conversation goes as naturally as it did in the demos Google showed on stage. Assistant: "Hello, you've reached Dave's personal assistant. Dave's not available right now, can I take a message?" Bob: "No, just tell him to call me back as soon as he can." Assistant: "Okay. Can I ask who's calling?" (Bob was not in Dave's contacts list.) Bob: "It's Bob Jones." Assistant: "Alright, I'll let him know." Bob: "Okay, bye." Perfectly natural conversation, and provides a much nicer user experience for Dave when he checks his missed calls. (Notification: "Call from: 444-444-4444 Bob Jones says 'tell him to call me back as soon as he can'")
- ForHackernews 8y ago
  That's perfectly fine as long as it identifies itself as a robot: "Hi, this is Dave's automated assistant..." A big part of what creeps people out is the notion of bots impersonating humans.
  - Ajedi32 8y ago
    What's so creepy about that? If I can get the same quality of service talking to a bot as I can to a person, why should I care what it is I'm talking to? Unless you mean impersonating a _specific_ human (e.g. if my personal assistant were pretending to be me) I don't really see the issue.
    - Balgair 8y ago
      I mean, all humans are specific humans. How could a bot not impersonate a specific human? It would be impersonating your assistant, who may not exist in the first place, but the bot is trying to get others to think that the person is a real person with real feelings. That duplicitousness is the problem. Like, other people are real people too, not just sheeple (terrible term that it is).
      - Ajedi32 8y ago
        Why does it matter if I mistakenly think the answering machine bot is a real person? Assuming I can treat it like a real person and still get the results I want, why should I care one way or the other?
        Balgair 8y ago
        Because it is not a person. It's a machine. There is no shared experience, it doesn't have experiences, it's sand and metal. Like, a really smart parrot is not a person, right? Even if the parrot could be an answering machine, it would not be due respect and it would not respect you back; because it's a parrot. I think the issue is that the answer-bot is inherently disrespectful to the real human. Just using one at all is like saying to the real person:"You are not worthy of the time and/or respect of a real human; talk to this clever metal parrot." Text devices and digital sign-ups are at least 'equal', though the transaction is sterile. Trying to fake that a person is talking to a bot is disrespectful of that other real person and their time; it's trying to pull one over on them and fake them into thinking that the bot's owner is worthy, but that the other real person is not worthy. Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them, and you should respect their decision because they are a real person too, not try to pull a fast one.
        Ajedi32 8y ago
        Why do I need to have "shared experiences" with the person I'm ordering pizza from? I'm trying to order pizza, not get a date. It's not about "worthiness" or anything as elitist as that either; I just want to buy a pizza. > Just use a sign-up service. If the company/person does not have one, they are signaling that you have to actually talk to them Or that they can't afford to build an online order service? I seriously doubt the guy working the counter at my local pizza restaurant has any particular desire to speak to me personally.
- daveFNbuck 8y ago
  That's basically the same thing that happens now with existing phone systems at large companies and people hate it. It's a very common complaint.
  - Ajedi32 8y ago
    That's only because they're a pain in the neck to deal with. If we're talking about an AI so good that you can barely even tell it's not human, I think that'd be much less of a problem.
    - daveFNbuck 8y ago
      A lot of people feel differently about that, as evidenced by the varied reactions to Duplex.
rbanffy 8y ago
Is there a reason to be annoyed? It's not very different from leaving a message with the possible exception you'll have a higher chance of having your message coming through (voice mail is where my inbound calls go to die)

pixelpoet 8y ago

I want this too, but it leads me to worry that in the not too distant future, poor people will deal mostly with robots in a sort of 2nd apartheid where social status dictates how many humans you can reach.

wlesieutre 8y ago
We're already in the situation where the only solution for a Gmail account being permanently hosed by some automated system is knowing someone at Google or having a million twitter followers.

s2g 8y ago

But then you have to tell your assistant what you need done. Then it has to navigate through the maze. This sounds great, but seems fraught with failure.