AI in Real Use

[GravitySucks]

I’ve played with a few AI pictures generators and search assistants but finally saw one in the wild.

Moved a phone to V’s’ble cellular this week and it didn’t work. Going through the app we found the trouble shooting chat bot that Visible calls ConnAI and claims to be AI. It was more a phone tree type thing that eventually asked me to type in the problem. It was terrible. Ended up in a circular reasoning. Click on the problem (No Service) bot tells me I recently turned on service, asks what’s the issue. Tells me service was recently turned up a second time. Then right back to the starting menu.


No real person to talk with at Visible. Started from the beginning and the second time the service started.

I am underwhelmed. I probably could have written an Expect script that would have been as intelligent. Think I may move to Consumer Cellular for about $5 a month more. At least they advertise they have people.

 

[W2R]

I’ve played with a few AI pictures generators and search assistants but finally saw one in the wild.

Moved a phone to V’s’ble cellular this week and it didn’t work. Going through the app we found the trouble shooting chat bot that Visible calls ConnAI and claims to be AI. It was more a phone tree type thing that eventually asked me to type in the problem. It was terrible. Ended up in a circular reasoning. Click on the problem (No Service) bot tells me I recently turned on service, asks what’s the issue. Tells me service was recently turned up a second time. Then right back to the starting menu.


No real person to talk with at Visible. Started from the beginning and the second time the service started.

I am underwhelmed. I probably could have written an Expect script that would have been as intelligent. Think I may move to Consumer Cellular for about $5 a month more. At least they advertise they have people.

I took a small but extremely rigorous upper level Electrical Engineering class in AI at Texas A&M, back in 1989. It was tremendously fun! But one thing it taught me quite thoroughly, is that there is nothing magical about AI. It's just an approach to programming, and like all programming it can be done very well, very poorly, or anything in between. The programmer can't create intelligence out of nothing if he/she didn't already have some inborn intelligence to begin with, and some knowledge of how to put those capabilities into code.

Sorry your experience was underwhelming! But perhaps the next one you encounter will be quite amazing, who knows.

 

[Sunset]

I've had a poor experience with Astound (RCN) using their online chat-bot. It also is working a decision tree, and is stupid.

Mind you, their online workers are not much better. It's taken 3.5 weeks for my new internet to STILL not be installed, as in no wire to the house...

 

[GenXguy]

This sounds like the same circle I get led around if I try to use Comcast Xfinity online chat bot. It actually keeps repeating asking the same questions, so it has very low intelligence that it can't even remember what I've already answered. It has been completely worthless.

 

[donheff]

I use Bing (ChatGPT~4) all the time instead of consulting the manuals and lengthy how-tos for complex graphics packages I started using for astrophotography. I almost always get excellent answers with step-by-step instructions that would have taken far, far longer to research as little as a year ago. It isn't perfect and you need to be vigilant, but this stuff is a game changer.

There are a lot of BS apps out there labeled as AI in an attempt to grab a few bucks or get attention. But the real thing is powerful and is in still in it's infancy. In a few years it will be an Olympic caliber young adult.

 

[freedomatlast]

ebay's chat bot is equally as useless.

It seems it's not really meant to be helpful or to solve any problems. It's just there to get you frustrated so you go away and don't bother them anymore, and was used as justification to lay off all of the human customer service people. I'm sure someone was awarded a big cost savings bonus.

 

[Onda]

You cannot compare some RCN or Ebay's 2 bit AI to something like ChatGPT.
To build ChatGPT cost enormous amounts of money. Only companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, NVIDIA etc can afford it.

It is no surprise MAG 7 is going up like a rocket. They pretty much own that market.

 

[target2019]

I toyed around with Meta's AI which is builtin to WhatsApp. I had been using Bing the previous evening, and also Google Bard. They are of course all built in different ways, tuned by the shop owners.

I rank them 1) GBard, 2) Bing, 3)Meta.

Maybe I'll come up with a test question, and ask each.

 

[Time2]

I use Bing (ChatGPT~4) all the time

I just used ChatGPT this morning. I have a love/hate relationship with a radio talk show host. He has a huge ego, plays too much music and constantly runs a spot about how he will be described when he dies. I'm a bit tired of it!
So, I prompted ChatGPT with, "Write a Eulogy for a popular NY radio talk show host that has a big ego, is a braggart, from the point of view of someone that thinks the host plays to much music.
It came back with an 8 paragraph Eulogy in less than a second.
Here's a link if you care to read it.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6vet0y26684zo0ag6928z/Host.png?rlkey=p9z7aalggz9il160irrl1znwm&dl=0


I also ask it, "What is the resistance of an RC circuit if it charges an 88uf capacitor from 336V to 710V in 2 minutes 17 seconds?"
ChatGPT went through how to do the math and calculated the answer.
When I tried to copy and paste, the format of the math got messed up. I tried to communicate the problem to ChatGPT, but it had a hard time understanding, after 6 more clarifications it finally did get at least one error corrected. Copy and paste caused 10^6 to be 106. Other equations were probably correct, just not in the form I'm used to.
Previously, I have corrected ChatGPT twice and it apologized for it's error and thanked me for the correction.
Pretty neat stuff, but a I see trouble brewing!

 

[Fermion]

Can it answer questions like:

Find me a 5.5% yield CD with no call risk

Calculate the cheapest method to travel from Portland, Oregon to Dallas, Texas without hitchhiking and arriving in four days or less.

Really curious how good this stuff is now.

Or:

What is the cheapest location to build a house including land cost, permit fees, taxes, and building materials?

 

[Onda]

Can it answer questions like:

Find me a 5.5% yield CD with no call risk

Calculate the cheapest method to travel from Portland, Oregon to Dallas, Texas without hitchhiking and arriving in four days or less.

It will be able as soon as it is continously "trained" with real time data. It needs no extra functionality to be able to do it.

 

[Time2]

Can it answer questions like:

Find me a 5.5% yield CD with no call risk

ChatGPT

I don't have the ability to browse the internet or access real-time data, including current financial product offerings.with 2 more paragraphs.

Calculate the cheapest method to travel from Portland, Oregon to Dallas, Texas without hitchhiking and arriving in four days or less.

ChatGPT
To determine the cheapest method of travel from Portland, Oregon, to Dallas, Texas, within a four-day timeframe, several factors need consideration, including transportation costs, travel time, and availability. Here's an analysis of some common transportation options: And then goes on about car rental, flight, train, bus and mixed modes.

Really curious how good this stuff is now.

Or:

What is the cheapest location to build a house including land cost, permit fees, taxes, and building materials?

ChatGPT

It gives you 11 paragraphs of what you need to do, but it does not have the info to calculate the cheapest location.


So, you hit the type of questions this ChatGPT cannot answer.

 

[donheff]

Bing has access to real time data. It isn't going to get in the weeds enough on the housing question although it did identify low cost states. On the CD here is what it returned in less than a second:

I can help you with that. However, please note that the interest rates on CDs are subject to change and may vary depending on the bank and the state you are in. Also, please note that I am not a financial advisor and this information is for educational purposes only. With that said, here are some options for 5% CDs with no call risk:

1. Bread Savings: Offers a 1-year CD with an attractive 5.50% APY. The minimum deposit to open an account is $1,500

2. Climate First Bank: Offers a 6-month CD with an APY of 5.34%. They also offer a 9-month CD with an APY of 4.69% and a 1-year CD with an APY of 5.00%. The minimum deposit to open an account is $500

3. CIT Bank: Offers an 11-month CD with an APY of 4.90%. The minimum deposit to open an account is $1,000

4. Synchrony Bank: Offers an 11-month CD with an APY of 4.05%. There is no minimum deposit required to open an account .

Please note that these rates are accurate as of the time of writing, but they are subject to change. It’s important to do your own research and compare rates before making any decisions. I hope this helps!

 

[sengsational]

ebay's chat bot is equally as useless.

It seems it's not really meant to be helpful or to solve any problems. It's just there to get you frustrated so you go away and don't bother them anymore, and was used as justification to lay off all of the human customer service people. I'm sure someone was awarded a big cost savings bonus.

They program these things to maximize short-term profit, so, yes, if they take up your time while somehow keeping you convinced that you're making progress, they have succeeded, from the business' perspective. The goal is to solve the simple problems (that you would have figured out for yourself), and if that doesn't work, drive you in circles until you give up and resort to slamming them on social media.

 

[target2019]

Can it answer questions like:

Find me a 5.5% yield CD with no call risk

Calculate the cheapest method to travel from Portland, Oregon to Dallas, Texas without hitchhiking and arriving in four days or less.

Really curious how good this stuff is now.

Or:

What is the cheapest location to build a house including land cost, permit fees, taxes, and building materials?

With Google Bard if you specify a public site, it has an answer.

https://g.co/bard/share/090b131099d9

If you ask it to go down into the weeds, it can't get that far on any site and find a specific product. Of course that varies with the AI implementation and the rules that a company wants to enforce.

 

[GravitySucks]

On the impressive side-
We moved the phone to the new company and not one human other than the customer interacted with the process.
So the back end automation worked very well. That was my reason to go to w*rk every day.

 

[ERD50]

I just used ChatGPT this morning. ...
I also ask it, "What is the resistance of an RC circuit if it charges an 88uf capacitor from 336V to 710V in 2 minutes 17 seconds?"

ChatGPT went through how to do the math and calculated the answer. ...

I'm curious, was it 'smart' enough to tell you there was not enough information, or that some information was superfluous?

As I see it stated, there is no answer. It's missing the source voltage that the R is connected to. It could be charging from 711V (charges slowly for a given RC), or 10,000V (charges much more quickly for a given RC). Makes a big difference.

OTOH, if it just assumes that 5 Time Constants (R*C) is 'close enough' (99.3%), then the voltages don't matter, and are superfluous.

-ERD50

 

[Midpack]

I am underwhelmed. I probably could have written an Expect script that would have been as intelligent. Think I may move to Consumer Cellular for about $5 a month more. At least they advertise they have people.

It's a little early to draw conclusions re: AI? No reason to think it won't improve as time passes, maybe by leaps and bounds - we'll see.

 

[USGrant1962]

Last week I heard a real use example of AI that surprised me. The plagiarism exposures that have recently torpedoed certain high-profile academics were done with AI searches.

The other aspect is that most of what the public sees as AI is Large Language Models. That is only one application of AI. Generative graphics is another application and there are more. This stuff is still maturing and will improve.

 

[Gumby]

It probably will improve, but that won't be because consumers have complained, it will be because it allows businesses to lower employee headcount. Many businesses are relentlessly short-sighted in that regard. Eventually, they will have no employees to deal with all the disgruntled customers, and if there is another option for consumers, that business will fail. And I would say deservedly so.

 

[GravitySucks]

I’m sure it will improve. I’m also sure it will be used to push more time and aggravation to the customer.

 

[ERD50]

It probably will improve, but that won't be because consumers have complained, it will be because it allows businesses to lower employee headcount. Many businesses are relentlessly short-sighted in that regard. Eventually, they will have no employees to deal with all the disgruntled customers, and if there is another option for consumers, that business will fail. And I would say deservedly so.

If the AI can solve my problem better than the average 'customer service rep', then I'm all for it. A smart business might use AI as the front line, and keep a smaller staff of real professionals to handle whatever AI can't.

I don't want to go back to having to call a stock broker on the phone to place my order. It's so much easier, faster, and cheaper with less chance of communication error, to just click a few buttons on my screen. That means there are fewer stock broker jobs, but that's how it goes. People need to adapt, as they have always done.

If the business handles it poorly (or at least worse than competitors), then yes, they deserve to fail, just like any other aspect of their business.

-ERD50

 

[Midpack]

It probably will improve, but that won't be because consumers have complained, it will be because it allows businesses to lower employee headcount. Many businesses are relentlessly short-sighted in that regard. Eventually, they will have no employees to deal with all the disgruntled customers, and if there is another option for consumers, that business will fail. And I would say deservedly so.

Ultimately it's because most customers will relentlessly seek out lower prices/smaller increases more often than not. Over an 18 year period I reduced head count in my operation from 81 to 51 employees while increasing production from 80MM to 125MM, and improved safety performance, quality and on time delivery. It wasn't to "lower employee headcount" or because we were "short-sighted," it was necessary to survive global competitors. Fortunately I did most of it through attrition and termination for legit cause versus outright layoffs.

Lots of people say one thing (complain about service) and do another (actually spend based on price/value). We get what we (collectively) deserve…

 

[Gumby]

The other problem I see with general AI and drastically lowered employee headcounts is that eventually no one is earning any money, so they can't buy the products produced by all the companies chock full of wonderful AI. Henry Ford, by all accounts not a particularly nice guy, figured out long ago that if he paid his workers enough so that they could buy the cars they were producing, it would be good for business.

You and I will make to the end okay, but I think young people may really suffer when all the jobs disappear. A world full of unemployed people without the ability to improve their lot will be a troubled one.

 

[Fermion]

The other problem I see with general AI and drastically lowered employee headcounts is that eventually no one is earning any money, so they can't buy the products produced by all the companies chock full of wonderful AI. Henry Ford, by all accounts not a particularly nice guy, figured out long ago that if he paid his workers enough so that they could buy the cars they were producing, it would be good for business.

You and I will make to the end okay, but I think young people may really suffer when all the jobs disappear. A world full of unemployed people without the ability to improve their lot will be a troubled one.

The Expanse tackles this. In that world everyone gets a minimum income, called Basic.