(at Boing Boing) a transcript he received about Earthlink’s crazy-talking support staff. My question: would this person pass the Turing Test?
Michael Boyle's weblog
Michael Boyle's weblog
(at Boing Boing) a transcript he received about Earthlink’s crazy-talking support staff. My question: would this person pass the Turing Test?
Boris Anthony says
Similar thought when i read that. “This is not a person, that is one of those new computar support drones…” Yuck. Then again, most CS people you get on the phone are not much more helpful… ;)
michaelm says
Ditto that thought. I was surprised Mark didn’t run a comparison to chatterbot texts himself. I think it’s highly possible that Earthlink is “outsourcing” IM support to AI chat clients. Did you mean to imply that literal implication by asking the Turing question?
michael says
Ditto that thought. I was surprised Mark didn’t run a comparison to chatterbot texts himself. I think it’s highly possible that Earthlink is “outsourcing” IM support to AI chat clients. Did you mean to imply that literal implication by asking the Turing question?
Michael says
I have no reason to believe that it actually was a machine doing the talking – remember that the Turing Test specifically posits a textual interaction afaik. But I’m sure that’s coming, and it’s hard to believe it could be worse than the transcript!
My take overall is that companies generally see support as a cost center, period, when it should be a revenue generator. Just as Costco pays its staff more and offers full benefits on the principle that longevity and presumably expertise (not to mention honesty) is good for business, I think a good support staff is simply your after-the-sale team and should be given bonuses on repeat business and such, and thus brought into the mainstream of companies just as the sales force is.
Matt says
I’m the Matt in the above post. I highly doubt that it was a machine doing the talking. The text posted was only the juicy parts of my conversation. The rest of my convesation was not so….so…however you want to describe it.
Michael says
Wow – glad you could drop by here and clarify that Matt.
Matt says
No problem, it’s been fun dealing with them to say the least. Even after receiving the new modems I still have problems off and on. If it wasn’t for the simple fact that I receive “discounted” cable, I would have ended this a long time ago.