[gorillarick]

Yeah, my dermatologist's office has AI for making appointments.
Took a long time to get thru the press this, press this, press this, , ,
Then I got the AI rep.
Every time it was my turn to speak had to rephrase 2 or 3 times.
Every time I gave any reply there was a long pause x2LONG before AI would answer.

When I finally got an appointment, there was only one choice.
NO
Took probably 5 more minutes to (seems like) trick the AI into giving me another choice.

This office was already on my marginal list. I'm gonna ask my regular doc for a new referral.

Yes, AI will get better. Until then keep it in the laboratory.

[dougawhite]

I use the chat feature whenever it's available. This usually works, but sometimes you still have a machine at the other end, so I may resort to typing in "live operator".

[gorillarick]

"lightly educated Indians"

Seems their education system is better than ours.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

And here I am happy when I get a good ol’ Loozana person on the phone!😂

[Switter]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

As a software developer, I work with AI (ChatGTP and Microsoft copilot) every day and I'm here to tell you, it's nothing short of amazing. It can actually anticipate code I am writing. I have also found that when I'm searching ChatGPT to solve a problem, I almost always find the correct answer immediately instead of wading through dozens of webpages. It has largely made google search irrelevant to me. You can also be very specific in your question.

If it can do that when it's still in its infancy I'm sure it could, at a minimum, handle answering questions, which is why most people call a helpline. Mapping speech or text to an audible voice is already well on its way.

The one thing to remember about AI is that it is not really "intelligence." It's basically an algorithm that scours the web or some other source for information with a high level of specificity. For it to be effective with a helpline, there would have to be a robust, highly detailed set of data backing it. That would take time and effort for a company to develop and maintain.

You can install the ChatGTP app on your phone. Try it out sometime. It's amazing the questions that it can answer. Just remember to be smart never put personal information in it. If I'm not mistaken, it actually warns you that they make no guarantees about data privacy.

That said, I can think of a couple problems I have noticed with AI generated content. First, you do sense the loss of human connection. When I am looking up reviews of a product on YouTube and I come across AI generated content, I almost always abandon it. I want to hear a real human being talk about the product and give me their personal opinion.

Another problem is eventually someone will figure out how to monetize it. Think of Google search. Most of the results that you get at the top of your search are paid for. It wasn't like that early on. Enjoy it now while it is still relatively free from that.

[retiredguy123]

I can understand why some companies cannot afford English speaking customer service reps. For example, if you are selling a $20 computer software program, and a customer, who doesn't even know how to turn on their computer, calls for help, the company will definitely lose money on the product.

[RoseyRed]

:hig hfive:

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

[RoseyRed]

luv it!!!

[DAVES]

Play the game in reverse. Can't understand them-oops I hung up and called back. You ask for A Name in case you need a follow up and they refuse or tell you, you can't call back and find the same person. So when you hang up and call back, hopefully the new one speaks English-actually American. We need to teach the English to speak English..

[pcntech]

Some but not all companies will have US based people you can talk with. If you feel you have reached an overseas support center, as to speak with a US Based representative. With any luck, they will transfer you. As an IT tech, I had to deal with one of the largest computer companies in the world. When I would call in for assistance, I would ask for a US Rep in Atlanta. (Oh gee, I just gave away the companies name). I always opt in for the "Brief Survey after the call" and slam them if I got a overseas rep that I could not understand. "Hello my name is Randy. How can I help. Hey dude, your name is not Randy, it's Rashid.

[Janie123]

Originally Posted by Switter

As a software developer, I work with AI (ChatGTP and Microsoft copilot) every day and I'm here to tell you, it's nothing short of amazing. It can actually anticipate code I am writing. I have also found that when I'm searching ChatGPT to solve a problem, I almost always find the correct answer immediately instead of wading through dozens of webpages. It has largely made google search irrelevant to me. You can also be very specific in your question.

If it can do that when it's still in its infancy I'm sure it could, at a minimum, handle answering questions, which is why most people call a helpline. Mapping speech or text to an audible voice is already well on its way.

The one thing to remember about AI is that it is not really "intelligence." It's basically an algorithm that scours the web or some other source for information with a high level of specificity. For it to be effective with a helpline, there would have to be a robust, highly detailed set of data backing it. That would take time and effort for a company to develop and maintain.

You can install the ChatGTP app on your phone. Try it out sometime. It's amazing the questions that it can answer. Just remember to be smart never put personal information in it. If I'm not mistaken, it actually warns you that they make no guarantees about data privacy.

That said, I can think of a couple problems I have noticed with AI generated content. First, you do sense the loss of human connection. When I am looking up reviews of a product on YouTube and I come across AI generated content, I almost always abandon it. I want to hear a real human being talk about the product and give me their personal opinion.

Another problem is eventually someone will figure out how to monetize it. Think of Google search. Most of the results that you get at the top of your search are paid for. It wasn't like that early on. Enjoy it now while it is still relatively free from that.

I highly agree with you about CoPilot and ChatGPT. I use it all the time instead of googling in a browser. What amazes me is you are having a normal conversation with someone. Ask a simple question, they ask another question related to the previous one to dig deeper and you get great answers. It even gives you two answers if the answer is more of an opinion. Not only does it give you an answer to a question like how much salt do I put in my pool, it gives the actual calculation on how it got there.

Next year, no one will be Googling stuff, they will just ask their AI app.

[SHIBUMI]

WIERE TUEIR WEUCG QAZSX WDCVF ?
ISNTED IUSDENX POINJH IJNMKO OEIDRS!
QWERT YUIOP IMFOT EDCFR OKSDIR,
AWSEDC POIVCX LODECS WESDRE.

TANKS 4 KELLING, HOLD 4 A SURFEY

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

[fdpaq0580]

I love it when people vent their frustrations. Makes me feel like I'm not alone.

[nn0wheremann]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Why do companies have representatives that deal with customers that are difficult to understand because of heavy accents or poor pronunciation skills of the English language? I often reach customer service representatives that I cannot understand and have a very difficult time dealing with these individuals. In other cases, there are many companies where you get trapped in an automated or speech recognition system and cannot speak to a human representative. Do you think with the advent of new AI systems that this will improve or will it worsen? My hope is that the AI will at least speak in an understandable, well pronounced English language.

What we have heah is a failure to communicate!

[Switter]

Originally Posted by Janie123

I highly agree with you about CoPilot and ChatGPT. I use it all the time instead of googling in a browser. What amazes me is you are having a normal conversation with someone. Ask a simple question, they ask another question related to the previous one to dig deeper and you get great answers. It even gives you two answers if the answer is more of an opinion. Not only does it give you an answer to a question like how much salt do I put in my pool, it gives the actual calculation on how it got there.

Next year, no one will be Googling stuff, they will just ask their AI app.

Right! I estimate that AI cuts down my R&D time, (which is a significant aspect of my job) tenfold. What used to take me 30 minutes now takes me 30 seconds. I kid you not. It is a game changer for sure.