alt Hacker NewsI don't agree with the luddite-esque AI views like using ChatGPT makes you dumber and it thinks for you, but- this is a real case of why people are angry and why they should be concerned about deployment of AI.
The article says it's basically to handle high call volumes maybe during some kind of widespread incident. But in those cases why would AI even be needed- if calls are flooding in for something and people need to be put on hold why do you need AI to ask them if they are calling about incident x? Just automate a voice for that and ask them that while they're on hold / when the system first picks up.
This smells like a bandaid over an underfunded system, and a way to sneak in further cost-cutting in the future where the real calls will be actually answered by AI.
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> I don't agree with the luddite-esque AI views like using ChatGPT makes you dumber and it thinks for you
I believe there are studies that indicate this to be true, however.
> This smells like a bandaid over an underfunded system, and a way to sneak in further cost-cutting in the future where the real calls will be actually answered by AI.
I think there’s also an aspect of accountability-washing: when regular 911 makes mistakes, managers and politicians get hauled into the spotlight to explain the failure (my city has that now due to the outgoing mayor’s decision to put an unqualified crony in charge). I will bet that the first time this fails badly it’ll be blame shifting and assurances that some huge tech company has fixed the problem and it’ll never happen again, with as little talk about oversight responsibility as they can get away with.
What about cases where e.g. there's an earthquake with thousands of incidents and you need to triage help to the worst? It's not common, but there are absolutely cases where small amounts of intelligence applied in parallel is a genuine advantage.
Having someone answer and provide updates or screen for new information is valuable. For instance someone calling can know exactly where the shooter is. Or it could be something related. Information is valuable. What's the alternative? Not have someone pick up the phones? No matter how much you over staff there will be times where peak volume will be more than you can support
several things: AI won't make it cheaper, an automated voice system will invariably lead to frustration.
conclusion: have emergency protocols where you can staff your call centers appropriately
> Just automate a voice for that and ask them that while they're on hold / when the system first picks up.
Is this criteria satisfied if we swap the titular “AI” with our inoffensive “automating the voice”?
Knowing the way in which bureaucracies work, I suspect there is zero (or likely negative) money available for new humans or old-school systems, but heaps available for anything with AI in the title. A manager who increases human staff will be blamed for causing bloat, but any manager who manages to replace humans with AI is an efficiency guru and promising future leader (even if the AI sucks and winds up costing more than what it replaces).