Re:25 Years In Speech Technology and I still don’t talk to m...
by dheera on Monday October 26, 2020 @01:12PM
(#24898495)
Maybe it's the marketing.
I don't have a human assistant, but if I did, the biggest things I would expect from them isn't about scheduling a meeting or scheduling a barber appointment. I can handle that stuff myself.
What I would REALLY expect of a human assistant:
"Can you call up my health insurance and fight this stupid bill of $400 for COVID testing that should have been $0. Please escalate if necessary. Thanks."
"Can you figure out how to fight this red light ticket that I got due to a malfunctioning red light camera? Thanks."
"Can you fight this parking ticket? I had a valid permit to park there, and here's documentation of that. Thanks."
"Can you register me to vote? Here's my ID. Thanks. Make sure they don't sign me up for spam."
"Can you call up Comcast and fight this bill increase? Threaten to switch to another provider if necessary, I heard that works."
"Can you call up this company that posted my personal information and ask them to remove it? If they refuse, threaten legal action."
"Can you dispute this electric bill for me? My heating shouldn't have been $400 a month. Something must be wrong with my meter or someone is leeching power from my line."
"Can you call up the 10 different grocery stores in the area and figure out which one has X in stock?"
In all honesty I do wish the Google automated assistant could do all of the above. Sorry Pichai, I don't care for scheduling haircuts automatically. I want your assistant to use its hundreds of thousands of hours of human conversations and use machine learning to craft and engineer responses to humans to know EXACTLY when to escalate, EXACTLY when to ask for a manager, HOW to threaten legal action, and basically fight tooth-and-nail with language to get me what I want against the companies and institutions I need to fight with on the phone. The job of an "assistant" should be to get sh*t done and get me what I want. Use machine learning and lots of data to master the art of negotiation with customer service reps.
I don't have a human assistant, but if I did, the biggest things I would expect from them isn't about scheduling a meeting or scheduling a barber appointment. I can handle that stuff myself.
What I would REALLY expect of a human assistant:
"Can you call up my health insurance and fight this stupid bill of $400 for COVID testing that should have been $0. Please escalate if necessary. Thanks."
"Can you figure out how to fight this red light ticket that I got due to a malfunctioning red light camera? Thanks."
"Can you fight this parking ticket? I had a valid permit to park there, and here's documentation of that. Thanks."
"Can you register me to vote? Here's my ID. Thanks. Make sure they don't sign me up for spam."
"Can you call up Comcast and fight this bill increase? Threaten to switch to another provider if necessary, I heard that works."
"Can you call up this company that posted my personal information and ask them to remove it? If they refuse, threaten legal action."
"Can you dispute this electric bill for me? My heating shouldn't have been $400 a month. Something must be wrong with my meter or someone is leeching power from my line."
"Can you call up the 10 different grocery stores in the area and figure out which one has X in stock?"
In all honesty I do wish the Google automated assistant could do all of the above. Sorry Pichai, I don't care for scheduling haircuts automatically. I want your assistant to use its hundreds of thousands of hours of human conversations and use machine learning to craft and engineer responses to humans to know EXACTLY when to escalate, EXACTLY when to ask for a manager, HOW to threaten legal action, and basically fight tooth-and-nail with language to get me what I want against the companies and institutions I need to fight with on the phone. The job of an "assistant" should be to get sh*t done and get me what I want. Use machine learning and lots of data to master the art of negotiation with customer service reps.