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"the bot has been programmed to upsell" I'm fine with a bot that takes my words and gives me the food I want. However, I would never visit Wendy's again if a r

"the bot has been programmed to upsell" I'm fine with a bot that takes my words and gives me the food I want. However, I would never visit Wendy's again if a robot tried to make me converse with it about things I didn't ask for.

hospitalJail 4y ago
>I would never visit Wendy's again if a robot tried to make me converse with it about things I didn't ask for. Modern marketing isnt about 'LOOK FOR 9.99 YOU GET FREE', its more subtle. >"Add a healthy snack" >"Save money when you buy another insert customer history" or worse: >"We are family here" Not to mention, they likely avoid words, show the picture of the delicious item. Marketing is incredibly manipulative, the ones that say "Buy this for $9.99" are incredibly more ethical than the ones that make you feel like you belong at a corporation.
- mavhc 4y ago
  Mostly it's: save money by paying more for more stuff
oh_sigh 4y ago
Is it any different than when a low wage employee asking "would you like to make it a large coke for 25 cents more?"
- lancesells 4y ago
  Yes. It's a no-wage employee analyzing your voice, feeding it back to the mothership, working in concert with the other no-wage AIs, and doing it's best to manipulate you and everyone else.
  - oh_sigh 4y ago
    This doesn't sound much different from a low wage employee who took a training course on how to upsell customers.
- nickthegreek 4y ago
  Yes. I will not accept marketing/second guessing from a robot. If I say I want a #2 with a small coke - the acceptable thing is for it to tell me the total and to move forward. Now if I say gimme a #2 with a coke, and it asks would you want a medium or large fry or drink, that would be acceptable as my request wasn't specific enough to be fulfilled.
  - oh_sigh 4y ago
    But you do accept marketing/second guessing from a human?
    - nickthegreek 4y ago
      I recognize a moral duty to be polite and empathize with another human and their situation whenever I can help it. I do not extend that curtesy to a corporation.
hermannj314 4y ago
Eventually the bots will need to be given an empathetic backstory so customers can subsidize their existence. "Hey, Wendy's doesn't pay me enough electricity to stay on night, can you leave a 10% tip, please? I'm studying to add a few billion more parameters so I be a medical AI and its hard to afford the compute."
bitshiftfaced 4y ago
This is interesting. They could theoretically use previous transaction data to train the system to optimize what wording to use that is likely to maximize total spend and repeat business (at least in single party states). I wonder if this will mean that brick and mortar stores will soon have the incentive to record everything they can about their customers such as their car and what they've said, putting them more in line with the digital realm adtech.

hospitalJail 4y ago

>I would never visit Wendy's again if a robot tried to make me converse with it about things I didn't ask for. Modern marketing isnt about 'LOOK FOR 9.99 YOU GET FREE', its more subtle. >"Add a healthy snack" >"Save money when you buy another insert customer history" or worse: >"We are family here" Not to mention, they likely avoid words, show the picture of the delicious item. Marketing is incredibly manipulative, the ones that say "Buy this for $9.99" are incredibly more ethical than the ones that make you feel like you belong at a corporation.

mavhc 4y ago
Mostly it's: save money by paying more for more stuff

oh_sigh 4y ago

Is it any different than when a low wage employee asking "would you like to make it a large coke for 25 cents more?"

lancesells 4y ago
Yes. It's a no-wage employee analyzing your voice, feeding it back to the mothership, working in concert with the other no-wage AIs, and doing it's best to manipulate you and everyone else.
- oh_sigh 4y ago
  This doesn't sound much different from a low wage employee who took a training course on how to upsell customers.
nickthegreek 4y ago
Yes. I will not accept marketing/second guessing from a robot. If I say I want a #2 with a small coke - the acceptable thing is for it to tell me the total and to move forward. Now if I say gimme a #2 with a coke, and it asks would you want a medium or large fry or drink, that would be acceptable as my request wasn't specific enough to be fulfilled.
- oh_sigh 4y ago
  But you do accept marketing/second guessing from a human?
  - nickthegreek 4y ago
    I recognize a moral duty to be polite and empathize with another human and their situation whenever I can help it. I do not extend that curtesy to a corporation.

hermannj314 4y ago

Eventually the bots will need to be given an empathetic backstory so customers can subsidize their existence. "Hey, Wendy's doesn't pay me enough electricity to stay on night, can you leave a 10% tip, please? I'm studying to add a few billion more parameters so I be a medical AI and its hard to afford the compute."

bitshiftfaced 4y ago

This is interesting. They could theoretically use previous transaction data to train the system to optimize what wording to use that is likely to maximize total spend and repeat business (at least in single party states). I wonder if this will mean that brick and mortar stores will soon have the incentive to record everything they can about their customers such as their car and what they've said, putting them more in line with the digital realm adtech.