Why talking to people is still better than talking to machines
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at 07:01AM
There are good reasons to have artificial intelligence try to learn to get humor... It makes machines more relatable, especially if you can get them to understand sarcasm. Artificial intelligence has no sense of humor, Mankato Free Press, April 1, 2019
It becomes a battle of wills. When calling any support service, I can generally outlast the innumerable auto-responses and menu choices and hold times until I get a human being on the line.
Despite that eventual human being sometimes having only rudimentary English language skills or perfunctory knowledge of the service or product about which I am inquiring, he or she still beats the socks off the automatonic voice to which the company wishes to pawn you off.
Why?
If I needed an answer to a question that had a concrete answer (What is the balance of my checking account?), I can 99% of the time get that on line. It is usually the nuanced questions with which I need help. (Can you help me identify this strange charge on my credit card?) Complex communication and expert thinking (see chart) are what I am looking for when I call support. The routine stuff I can figure out for myself.
“Trends in Tasks Done by the U.S. Workforce 1969-1998 (1969=0)"1
I like talking to people. Human beings are problem-solvers. They are creative. They show compassion and empathy. And yes, now and then, they even apply a bit of humor to a difficult situation.
I suppose this explains why I've never been terribly worried about being replaced by a machine. My jobs have always been about solving problems (even wicked ones). My kids and their spouses are in occupations that require creativity and expert thinking. And my grandsons, I'm sure, will be in fields that will make the most of not just their amazing knowledge and technical skills, but in their great interpersonal skills as well.
This is also why human teachers will always be needed. Provided they "teach" more than facts.
1. Levy. Frank and Richard J. Murnane. "Education and the Changing Job Market" Educational Leadership, October 2004.
Reader Comments (4)
Remember, your dad used to say if he wanted to talk to a machine he’d go in the garage and chat with the lawn mower?! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Yup, Grandpa Darrell never liked my answering machine!
I recently learned that when you use the chat feature of moth web sites, all you need to do is first type in "real person" and the chatbot forwards it...
Good to know. Thanks,
Doug