> Whatsapp has this problem before AI
Yep. So does AT&T. Real scenario that just happened to me yesterday:
Spectrum is charging me $110 a month for internet. I go to the AT&T site to check if they can provide fibre internet in my area. No matter what address I enter, it says to contact them. I tried neighbouring addresses and, at one point, I even gave AI a try to see if I could get tips. Nothing worked.
I called the number the AT&T coverage page asked me to call (apparently a customer service number). I was "first" in line, but it took them over 15 minutes to get to me. Weird but sure.
This isn't even the kafkaesque part.
I finally get on the phone with someone and he says "Hello, can I get your name?" I give him my first name. He says, "I need your full name to bring up the address." I say, "You don't have my address. I don't have an AT&T account and I'm calling to ask if you provide fibre internet in my area." He says, "I understand. But I need your full name to look up the address." I say, "I don't understand why you would need my full name." I gave him my name again.
He hangs up on me.
Not much different to a useless cycle of talking to a bot, especially when AT&T apparently encourages to move on as quickly as possible from a call if the rep knows they won't close a sale and as they try to improve their "average handle time"
I'm not saying AI wouldn't exacerbate this, and this is reason to believe that this scenario would only be worse under an AI-controlled environment. Certain parts of our society will just become even more closed off and shut people down even faster and with less human effort. Even if AT&T was able to somehow identify my real identity through some governmental totalitarian identity system, I don't think this would change