Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment I'd rather talk to an AI chatbot than a human one (Score 1) 81

On average, I've actually been very happy with the use of AI chatbots for phone support.

The reason for this is that, for lower tier support (as well as a fair chunk of things I need done that can be handled by lower support), the support agents are largely working off of scripts that they are not allowed to deviate from, nor do they have the expertise to understand what they are doing.

While the AI is not necessarily as intelligent or capable as a human *CAN* be, in practice it is often more capable than the first-tier support agent that it has replaced, due to the breadth of its training data. If I need something that requires cognitive tasks that exceed the AI's context window, I can request escalation.

This is in stark contrast to the bad old days where I waste time talking to the bottom tier support where I usually need to spend a long time explaining what I want done, wind up requesting to be escalated anyway, or try to battle with a dumb non-AI menu-based agent bot to even get to speak to a human (and usually that human is still bottom-tier support who I have the same problems with).

Comment Re:training models versus running them (Score 3, Insightful) 28

"I don't see how this is economically feasible"

We're in pre-enshitification of AI. Once one or two dominate the technology, they will start "monetizing" it. Also, the more AI shit you can spout on earnings calls, the more horny wall street gets for your sweet sweet stock.

Comment Re: scale (Score 4, Informative) 158

I see these arguments a lot and they're kind of contradictory:

1. It won't work in the US because there's too many people in the US! Norway is a sparsely-populated country!

2. It won't work in the US because there's too few people in the US! The US is a sparsely populated country!

It's a dumb comparison because you can just take any given US state in isolation the same way you can take European countries in isolation. Norway is about the same size with the same population density as Utah, and like Utah has most of its population concentrated around one major city, and has about the same median income as Utah. (Norway is much richer in GDP per capita but the average joe actually buying a car makes about the same).

If Norway can do it then surely Utah can do it.

Comment Re:The train fad won't last (Score 1) 140

Gas was cheap and cars were cheap. Your car is a consumable commodity that you have to factor in to the cost of the drive too. Insurance companies are also moving toward mileage-based fee structures so if that's your situation it figures in to the cost as well. Furthermore you have to figure in the cost of your labor in operating the vehicle and if you value that more or less than sitting back and watching a movie or playing a game on your portable console/phone/laptop.

Comment Re:Public Transit (Score 1) 153

It doesn't have to be that way. In many places public transit works more like a Star Trek transporter. You go somewhere, go down some stairs, and come up another set of stairs in a distant place. It's not as fast but it's reasonably quick. The only problem is this kind of transit is alien to most parts of the US, and the few cities that do have it also don't manage their extremely mentally ill and/or criminal population.

The kind of transit you're thinking of is the only transit much of the US has built -- commuter transit. That kind of transit sucks and most people don't use it.

Slashdot Top Deals

You have a massage (from the Swedish prime minister).

Working...