Talk of The Villages Florida - Will AI solve this problem?

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Originally Posted by Switter (Post 2406082)

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.

Yes I LOVE AI! Btw, “ai” in Mandarin is the word for “love”.

I paint and I asked ChatGPT to give me hints on how to improve my art. Loaded up a photo of my painting of the golf course at Alamanda. ChatGPT gave very useful suggestions on how to improve it and orally too as if I was talking to a friend. A relative has written a story but in difficult, convoluted language - it’s hard to read - and I asked DeepSeek to translate it into simpler English. I tested this on one paragraph. Very nicely and readably translated. Then I asked DeepSeek to translate it into Spanish and French. DeepSeek did a wonderful job, no editing required. Both of these AIs are free apps on my iPhone.

And the code (at least mostly for DeepSeek) is public - anyone can build on it like when Pythagoras shared his theorem, or Einstein his formula for the speed of light. And now Sam Altman is consider doing something similar for ChatGPT. For me, this is really an exciting time to be alive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mraines (Post 2405862)

I encountered this yesterday when I called Comcast. I apparently went over my usage allotment. I wanted to know where so I could cut back(have not done this in ten years). I got caught in the loop, of "do you want to speak to someone, can I send you a link?" I repeatedly said "no" and it continued. When I finally got a real person, with an accent, I could not understand her other than she wanted to sell me more data instead of telling me how I could cut back. I finally hung up.

I hate comcast with a passion so I'm working hard on dropping them completely. Going to give T-Mobile internet a try. As for AI I have hope that applications like Siri and Alexa will be improved 1000%, and speak in a language the caller requires. Whether they will solve our problems is yet to be determined

Quote:

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest (Post 2405788)

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.

Off shore customer service is cheaper than onshore customer service. When customer service is off shore it is an indication that the company doesn't really care about their customers. AI will not help. What will help in the meantime is for people to become more patient, with accented language, whether Asian or Southern USA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Velvet (Post 2406142)

AI, always confused if means Artificial Intelligence or Actually Ignorant.

You can ask AI its thought process, how it determines its language. For example, ask,”is hotdog a sandwich” and just watch how it goes through the analysis of what a “sandwich” is first. The citations it looks into, like wiki and even more than Google. And I can talk to AI in my native European language too. Win, win, so far.

This is not the same thing as talking with “Chat” on Xfinity, for example, etc which has a very limited number of possible responses.

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Originally Posted by VAtoFLA (Post 2405851)

sometimes it's Louisiana folks for me. Nothing wrong with LA, but to my ear the accent is tough.

From LA here. LOL. I get it.

It's even worse if one has hearing issues?

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Originally Posted by dewilson58 (Post 2405789)

There are phone apps for translation..........they work well for crappy English into clear English.

Firstly, not everyone uses a smartphone - especially when they're at home. Secondly, several of the Customer Service Representative (CSR) issues are not only strong accents - but, also extremely rapid speech. I have hearing aids and have a difficult time understanding ANYONE on the phone - English speaking, or otherwise. I always request that anyone with a strong accent "please speak louder and more slowly". Even that doesn't work oftentimes. I wish there were a way around this issue, too.

I tried to order from Applebee's on the phone, because their website ordering system forgot the option to select a side with a steak special and we didn't want mashed potatoes (the default). It stuck me into the IVR system and said I could order via that. So I started out telling them what I wanted, and it didn't understand me. I read off the menu, SLOWLY, enunciating the words, and it still didn't understand me. So I tried to 0-out to get someone there, and it thanked me for calling and hung up.

I ended up driving there and ordering my take-out in person. Waste of an hour, because I had to deal with the 10-minute failed call, then waiting for someone to notice I wanted to PLACE a take-out order (not picking up one that had already been placed), then place it, then sit in my car and wait for them to bring it out (they didn't have any place for me to wait inside).

Horrible horrible experience, and all because of AI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest (Post 2405788)

Why ask us to press one for English if the person you get to help has trouble speaking English.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 2406093)

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..

They were speaking it first...

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Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 2406196)

They were speaking it first...

How can you be sure? So many different versions in the UK. Many can't say the letter R (argh). They say "ah". Steph the "ahlta" (alter) "nuhd" (nerd), was talking about sending a "leh-uh" (letter) tew Meghan "Macle" (Marcle). Missing T's and R's, with hard stops where the missing lettre[B]r[/Bs should be. ]A different "Bri-esh" accent, I'm sure. The letters can appear or not, even in the same word. Frustrating becomes Frostrah-en.
Accents can be fun. They can also be frustrating, or frostrah-en. 😀🫠😉

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Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2406225)

I can be sure because the UK existed before America. It's not the same English, but theirs came first, and we shouldn't be arrogant enough to suggest that they don't know how to speak English.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2406225)

If you think that's nuts, try learning the difference between Dorchester (Dah-ches-tah) and South Boston (sow-thee). Or worse - Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stoo) New York and somewhere in the Delta region of Mississippi (I won't even try it).

Now imagine AI trying to understand someone from San Antonio trying to have a full-blown conversation with it, when Texans talk a mile a minute with a thick drawl and don't pronounce half the words in the sentences.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 2406226)

I can be sure because the UK existed before America. It's not the same English, but theirs came first, and we shouldn't be arrogant enough to suggest that they don't know how to speak English.

I agree with you completely. I'm just having fun with accents. We (Americans) don't speak it properly. Or so I've been told. Yet as you travel just around England, one will occasionally hear complaints that the English "don't speak it properly" about their fellows from other areas of the country. Every country has various regional accents and dialects. When I need help, I want someone that I can converse clearly and confidently with. But, with music, understanding the language is, for me, not always important..

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorillarick (Post 2406078)

"lightly educated Indians"

Seems their education system is better than ours.

Fact check: True