6 ms·

Precisely, I give zero information. If I do pick up once in a blue moon, I pause for 3-5 seconds to give a chance for the human to start (if it isn't a bot).

Buttons840 3y ago
I have a Pixel phone and a Google bot can answer the phone for me. It transcribes the conversations on my phone in real-time, and I can push a few buttons to tell to bot what to say--things like "tell me more", or "please tell me why you're calling". If the entity calling gives an explanation I care about, then I can press a button and the bot says "thanks, connecting you now" and then I can say "hello" with my own voice and have a normal conversation. I think most people think it's just a fancy answering machine, they don't realize I'm controlling it. Voice calls are on the decline anyway, but I think it's becoming possible to have a very sophisticated AI secretary answer calls for you, even beyond what I've explained Google is doing. Imagine being able to give your LLM phone secretary a prompt and it would answer calls for you. You could tell it something like "the snowblower I listed in the classifieds is already sold" and maybe it could automatically resolve some calls or text messages for you.
- doctorwho42 3y ago
  Ditto, it really should be the standard. Well, as well as the government actually enforcing these laws strictly. I am pretty sure they could compel companies to maintain and filter out spam/robo calls. Especially if it costs them $$$$$
- godelski 3y ago
  I have the same phone and feature. My experience is that everyone always hangs up immediately after facing the screener. I'd love to actually use this feature, I mean hell, I can fucking text responses to them and read what they say through it! But I never can in a realistic setting because people hear robot and hang up. I've been eagerly waiting Apple's release so that the feature becomes more well known. Google really dropped the ball on advertising and honestly I think should have just pushed it to all Android phones because you need to change how people interact. I've worried it would go away because Google deems it "useless" despite its uselessness being that the feature is just not known. There's just too few Pixel phones so people aren't experiencing the screener and so act like a normal human being and go "robot? Ugh, fuck that" and associate this with calling a 1 800 number.
  - Buttons840 3y ago
    Yeah, most people hang up immediately, mission accomplished probably. Sometimes the doctors office calls and awkwardly starts leaving a full fledged message rather than just saying their name (like the bot tells them to), then, when I press the answer button the bot interrupts them and we start a normal phone call. In fairness, it may be awkward, but it doesn't waste the caller's time, none of the robot messages are long, and people are quickly able to say their name and why they're calling.
    - godelski 3y ago
      My experience is more them just hanging up. Including the doctor's office. A funny case was my friend used me as a reference for a security clearance. They called, skipped to voicemail, I immediately call back to find a busy line, I leave a message, then I get a call back the next day from a new number in which I now need to just answer any unknown number. That's also happened with doctors and other offices, so it completely undermines the feature for me. Yeah, it helps with robocallers, but the DNC list does a better job. The feature has a ton of potential though, I just think it is useless if it doesn't enter the public lexicon. I've never had the experience you've had where they start to leave a message. Maybe because I don't live in The Bay? Idk. They either just hang up or go to voicemail. Which always results in the game of phone tag. So not only was mission __not__ accomplished, but the mission difficulty increased.
      - bee_rider 3y ago
        I wonder what attenuation is applied to the security clearance system, if it is only reaching the sort of maniac (jk. Kinda.) who manually answers their calls, haha.
        godelski 3y ago
        I mean they did leave a message... Your friend will also generally tell you that they listed you too, so you'd know to expect unknown numbers.
  - 3y ago
- itishappy 3y ago
  > I think most people think it's just a fancy answering machine, they don't realize I'm controlling it. FWIW, I'm betting it is just a fancy answering machine for most people. I use this feature (couldn't live without it), but I've never once been in-the-loop. My phone acts autonomously! I checked the logs for a few months, but I don't even bother anymore. It's never had a false positive.
adamomada 3y ago
The phone system has gotten so bad these days that a lot of the time the pausing for 3-5 seconds isn’t voluntary - it just doesn’t connect the call properly. The most basic hundred year old regular phone call is too much to handle for modern systems I suppose
chrsw 3y ago
Exactly what I do. And I don't pick up unless I recognize the number or I'm expecting a call for a specific reason.
saalweachter 3y ago
I just answer every phone call by saying, "My voice is my password, verify me."
colinsane 3y ago
same, but now a lot of callers whom i would like to speak with -- e.g. my insurance company -- just hang up before greeting me (because they think my phone's broken?). but then if i screen everyone via voicemail instead, a different (but overlapping) portion of callers refuse to leave messages. it's like everyone's given up on using the POTS outside of their immediate social circle, and the few people/businesses who still do are either malicious, or are just going through the motions. thanks spammers. and thanks FCC for sitting idly over the decades and letting the spammers ruin it. weird time to finally put your foot down, but sure, okay.

Buttons840 3y ago

I have a Pixel phone and a Google bot can answer the phone for me. It transcribes the conversations on my phone in real-time, and I can push a few buttons to tell to bot what to say--things like "tell me more", or "please tell me why you're calling". If the entity calling gives an explanation I care about, then I can press a button and the bot says "thanks, connecting you now" and then I can say "hello" with my own voice and have a normal conversation. I think most people think it's just a fancy answering machine, they don't realize I'm controlling it. Voice calls are on the decline anyway, but I think it's becoming possible to have a very sophisticated AI secretary answer calls for you, even beyond what I've explained Google is doing. Imagine being able to give your LLM phone secretary a prompt and it would answer calls for you. You could tell it something like "the snowblower I listed in the classifieds is already sold" and maybe it could automatically resolve some calls or text messages for you.

doctorwho42 3y ago
Ditto, it really should be the standard. Well, as well as the government actually enforcing these laws strictly. I am pretty sure they could compel companies to maintain and filter out spam/robo calls. Especially if it costs them $$$$$
godelski 3y ago
I have the same phone and feature. My experience is that everyone always hangs up immediately after facing the screener. I'd love to actually use this feature, I mean hell, I can fucking text responses to them and read what they say through it! But I never can in a realistic setting because people hear robot and hang up. I've been eagerly waiting Apple's release so that the feature becomes more well known. Google really dropped the ball on advertising and honestly I think should have just pushed it to all Android phones because you need to change how people interact. I've worried it would go away because Google deems it "useless" despite its uselessness being that the feature is just not known. There's just too few Pixel phones so people aren't experiencing the screener and so act like a normal human being and go "robot? Ugh, fuck that" and associate this with calling a 1 800 number.
- Buttons840 3y ago
  Yeah, most people hang up immediately, mission accomplished probably. Sometimes the doctors office calls and awkwardly starts leaving a full fledged message rather than just saying their name (like the bot tells them to), then, when I press the answer button the bot interrupts them and we start a normal phone call. In fairness, it may be awkward, but it doesn't waste the caller's time, none of the robot messages are long, and people are quickly able to say their name and why they're calling.
  - godelski 3y ago
    My experience is more them just hanging up. Including the doctor's office. A funny case was my friend used me as a reference for a security clearance. They called, skipped to voicemail, I immediately call back to find a busy line, I leave a message, then I get a call back the next day from a new number in which I now need to just answer any unknown number. That's also happened with doctors and other offices, so it completely undermines the feature for me. Yeah, it helps with robocallers, but the DNC list does a better job. The feature has a ton of potential though, I just think it is useless if it doesn't enter the public lexicon. I've never had the experience you've had where they start to leave a message. Maybe because I don't live in The Bay? Idk. They either just hang up or go to voicemail. Which always results in the game of phone tag. So not only was mission __not__ accomplished, but the mission difficulty increased.
    - bee_rider 3y ago
      I wonder what attenuation is applied to the security clearance system, if it is only reaching the sort of maniac (jk. Kinda.) who manually answers their calls, haha.
      - godelski 3y ago
        I mean they did leave a message... Your friend will also generally tell you that they listed you too, so you'd know to expect unknown numbers.
- 3y ago
itishappy 3y ago
> I think most people think it's just a fancy answering machine, they don't realize I'm controlling it. FWIW, I'm betting it is just a fancy answering machine for most people. I use this feature (couldn't live without it), but I've never once been in-the-loop. My phone acts autonomously! I checked the logs for a few months, but I don't even bother anymore. It's never had a false positive.

adamomada 3y ago

The phone system has gotten so bad these days that a lot of the time the pausing for 3-5 seconds isn’t voluntary - it just doesn’t connect the call properly. The most basic hundred year old regular phone call is too much to handle for modern systems I suppose

chrsw 3y ago

Exactly what I do. And I don't pick up unless I recognize the number or I'm expecting a call for a specific reason.

saalweachter 3y ago

I just answer every phone call by saying, "My voice is my password, verify me."

colinsane 3y ago

same, but now a lot of callers whom i would like to speak with -- e.g. my insurance company -- just hang up before greeting me (because they think my phone's broken?). but then if i screen everyone via voicemail instead, a different (but overlapping) portion of callers refuse to leave messages. it's like everyone's given up on using the POTS outside of their immediate social circle, and the few people/businesses who still do are either malicious, or are just going through the motions. thanks spammers. and thanks FCC for sitting idly over the decades and letting the spammers ruin it. weird time to finally put your foot down, but sure, okay.