Ready or not, AI is here. Even when you don't know it. I recently bought a WiFi extender from XFinity. The $125 device was marketed as a way to extend the signal of my wireless network to the upstairs, where the connection sometime drops. I plugged it in, and followed all of the instructions, several times, but it would not connect. I realized I would need help, and braced for an unpleasant experience.
I dialed the XFinity customer service number. After a brief wait (the first sign something as amiss), I was connected with Agent #1, who started asking me for my information, which I provided. Agent #1 sounded cheerful enough, but there was something odd about her voice. She stuttered, stopped mid-sentence, said words that made no sense, and wouldn't answer any of my questions. Agent #1 was a chatbot. Agent #1 then said she had to connect me to another department.
Agent #2, another cheerful person with a different voice picked up. Yet Agent #2 asked me for my information with the same exact questions as Agent #1. Another chatbot. Agent #2 tried very hard to help me. I think this AI was programmed for obsequiousness. Agent #2 said she was trying to reset my router, or something like that. Every 30 seconds or so, she would come back on the line and say "Joshua, please hold for a few more seconds, I am so thankful for your patience." She would repeat the same message, verbatim, over and over again. No human being would ever communicate in this fashion. I felt like I was in some strange doom loop. Once the reset failed to solve the problem, Agent #2 said she was starting some other process. I asked her what the process was, but she wouldn't tell me. Every minute or so, she would come in and update me on the percentage: 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80%. I asked Agent #2 again what she was doing, and she refused to tell me. I think there was some kind of hallucination. She was making up some solution to help me that wasn't real. Then the call disconnected. I was furious.
