AI Mayhem

"Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
"Calls will be answered in the order received".
"Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
.... (sleazy mall muzac)
"Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of service"
"Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
.... (10 mins later)
"Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of service"
"Your call is currently... no. 3 in the queue"
.... (15 minutes later)
"Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of service"
"Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
.... (10 mins later)
"Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of service"
"Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
.... (10 mins later)
Call disconnects.

Ring again.
"Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
"Calls will be answered in the order received".
"Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
.... (sleazy mall muzac)
I hang up.

This is obviously completely automated; no human in the loop. You move
up the queue when someone in front hangs up or the AI disconnects them
after a specified time as unattended no 1.
Who is to blame here? The software supplier or the human abuser of it?

Ed

Ed Cryer wrote:
> AI Mayhem
>
> "Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
> "Calls will be answered in the order received".
> "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> ... (sleazy mall muzac)
> "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> service"
> "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> ... (10 mins later)
> "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> service"
> "Your call is currently... no. 3 in the queue"
> ... (15 minutes later)
> "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> service"
> "Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
> ... (10 mins later)
> "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> service"
> "Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
> ... (10 mins later)
> Call disconnects.
>
> Ring again.
> "Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
> "Calls will be answered in the order received".
> "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> ... (sleazy mall muzac)
> I hang up.
>
> This is obviously completely automated; no human in the loop. You move
> up the queue when someone in front hangs up or the AI disconnects them
> after a specified time as unattended no 1.
> Who is to blame here? The software supplier or the human abuser of it?
>
> Ed
>

Fuit quidam architectus mente ingeniosissima qui novum modum aedium
construendarum excogitaverat; initium enim capiebat in tecto tum deorsum
operabatur ad fundamentum. Hoc consilium mihi vindicavit morem talem
ostentans duarum bestiolarum sapientium, apis araneaeque.
Fuit quoque homo caecus natu, qui aliquot discipulos habebat eadem
conditione affectos. Eis hic labor fuit; pro pictoribus miscebant
colores, quos tactu et odore discernere magister docuerat.
(Itinera Gulliveris; I Swift)

There was a most ingenious Architect who had contrived a new Method for
building Houses, by beginning at the Roof, and work- ing downwards to
the Foundation; which he justified to me by the like Practice of those
two prudent Insects the Bee and the Spider.*
There was a Man born blind,* who had several Apprentices in his own
Condition: Their Employment was to mix Colours for Painters, which their
Master taught them to distinguish by feeling and smelling.
(A Voyage to Brobdingnag)

Ed

On Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at 9:19:46 AM UTC-7, Ed Cryer wrote:
> Ed Cryer wrote:
> > AI Mayhem
> >
> > "Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
> > "Calls will be answered in the order received".
> > "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> > ... (sleazy mall muzac)
> > "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> > service"
> > "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> > ... (10 mins later)
> > "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> > service"
> > "Your call is currently... no. 3 in the queue"
> > ... (15 minutes later)
> > "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> > service"
> > "Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
> > ... (10 mins later)
> > "Your call is important to us, and we are doing all we can to be of
> > service"
> > "Your call is currently... no. 1 in the queue"
> > ... (10 mins later)
> > Call disconnects.
> >
> > Ring again.
> > "Your call may be recorded for staff training purposes."
> > "Calls will be answered in the order received".
> > "Your call is currently... no. 4 in the queue"
> > ... (sleazy mall muzac)
> > I hang up.
> >
> > This is obviously completely automated; no human in the loop. You move
> > up the queue when someone in front hangs up or the AI disconnects them
> > after a specified time as unattended no 1.
> > Who is to blame here? The software supplier or the human abuser of it?
> >
> > Ed
> >
> Fuit quidam architectus mente ingeniosissima qui novum modum aedium
> construendarum excogitaverat; initium enim capiebat in tecto tum deorsum
> operabatur ad fundamentum. Hoc consilium mihi vindicavit morem talem
> ostentans duarum bestiolarum sapientium, apis araneaeque.
> Fuit quoque homo caecus natu, qui aliquot discipulos habebat eadem
> conditione affectos. Eis hic labor fuit; pro pictoribus miscebant
> colores, quos tactu et odore discernere magister docuerat.
> (Itinera Gulliveris; I Swift)
>
>
> There was a most ingenious Architect who had contrived a new Method for
> building Houses, by beginning at the Roof, and working downwards to
> the Foundation; which he justified to me by the like Practice of those
> two prudent Insects the Bee and the Spider.*
> There was a Man born blind,* who had several Apprentices in his own
> Condition: Their Employment was to mix Colours for Painters, which their
> Master taught them to distinguish by feeling and smelling.
> (A Voyage to Brobdingnag)
>
>
> Ed

nitpick: ea condicione affectos. conditio (founding, storing) or condītio (pickling, spicing)
I think Victorius (in happier times) once corrected me on this. Latinists have been confusing these two spellings for centuries. In general c and t have been confused in manuscripts but in this case an additional wrinkle is that condo, -ere once meant 'pickle' also by extending the sense of storing. Later condio -ire took over this sense, as in the English word condiment.

The phone queue anecdote is more a voyage to Laputa (la gran puta). If a firm can't extract any more money from you, they will steal your time. This is just another instance of dumping negative externaliites on the customer. Its just a variety of the many-checkout-lanes-but-only one cashier gambit.

Two expositions of this and similar headaches are:

(Highly theoretical and general but convincing study of corporate behavior https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/williamson_lecture.pdf

and

a book I read a few months ago by a fed-up surfer:
Assholes: A theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assholes:_A_Theory

Both of these guys are Californians.

b. t. raven

p.s.

I can't see any AI here, but then I can't see it anywhere. The striking writers have added another definition to what I call simulated intelligence or deep-faked thought. They call the chatbots plagiarism engines.