• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans


Adverts help to support the work of this non-profit organisation. To go ad-free join as a Member.


Photo
- - - - -

Freakishly realistic telemarketing robots are denying they're robots

telemarketing robot

  • Please log in to reply
4 replies to this topic

#1 forever freedom

  • Guest
  • 2,362 posts
  • 67

Posted 11 December 2013 - 05:46 PM


Hope this practice doesn't spread. Could get very annoying... interesting nonetheless. In the link you can hear the actual recorded conversations:


http://newsfeed.time...s-shes-a-robot/

The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy.
When Scherer asked point blank if she was a real person, or a computer-operated robot voice, she replied enthusiastically that she was real, with a charming laugh. But then she failed several other tests. When asked “What vegetable is found in tomato soup?” she said she did not understand the question. When asked multiple times what day of the week it was yesterday, she complained repeatedly of a bad connection.

Over the course of the next hour, several TIME reporters called her back, working to uncover the mystery of her bona fides. Her name, she said, was Samantha West, and she was definitely a robot, given the pitch perfect repetition of her answers. Her goal was to ask a series of questions about health coverage—”Are you on Medicare?” etc.—and then transfer the potential customer to a real person, who could close the sale. You can listen for yourself to some of the reporting here:


If you want, you can call her too. Her number is (484) 589-5611. This number, if you Google it, is the subject of much discussion online as other recipients of Samantha West calls complain on chat boards about the mysteriously persistent lady who keeps calling them. “A friendly sounded woman on the other end claimed I requested health insurance information,” writes one mark. “She doggedly refused to deviate from her script.”

After answering her questions, one TIME reporter was transferred to an actual human who did not promptly end the call, as others had when asked about Samantha. Asked for the company’s website, the real human on the other end of the line said it was premierhealthagency.com, the website of a Ft. Lauderdale company. “We’re here to help. . . because we care,” is the company motto on its homepage. A TIME reporter called the company directly, identified himself and said TIME was doing a story about the robot who calls people on the company’s behalf. “We don’t use robot calls, sir,” said the person who answered the phone, before promptly hanging up the phone.

When the number was called a second time, a real live employee of Premier Health Plans Inc., who gave his name as Bruce Martin, answered the phone. He said he was not sure if Samantha West’s phone number, mentioned above, was one of the company’s numbers. “First of all, we use TV, we use radio, we use Internet,” said Martin. He described the company as selling life insurance, health insurance and dental insurance. He asked that TIME publish the name of his company, the website and phone number in the article. “If you are going to publish this in the magazine, I’d like to get something out of it,” he said. The TIME reporter agreed to do just that.

Martin also said he would inquire internally about whether Samantha West worked for the company, but would not be able to respond to the request Monday night. TIME will update the story with any additional information he provides.


Edited by forever freedom, 11 December 2013 - 05:48 PM.


#2 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 11 December 2013 - 11:15 PM

Phone spam is the new email spam. I've gotten this kind of call before, although it was to try to sell me some financial product that I didn't want. Anyone know of a landline phone that has really good callblocking, and particularly whitelisting ability?

sponsored ad

  • Advert

#3 Mind

  • Life Member, Director, Moderator, Treasurer
  • 18,997 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Wausau, WI

Posted 12 December 2013 - 08:23 AM

A lot of companies use chat-bot robots for tech help as well. When I ask if they are human, they say yes. This is unethical on the part of these companies. If someone asks, they should program truthful answers, IMO. Wonder why people are not concerned about it?

#4 John Gritsman

  • Guest
  • 3 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Brazil
  • NO

Posted 14 December 2013 - 08:18 PM

I read a lot of discussion about this. Probably it's not a complete AI but some people with canned pre recorded responses (just pushing buttons in a virtual panel).

sponsored ad

  • Advert

#5 jroseland

  • Guest
  • 1,117 posts
  • 162
  • Location:Europe

Posted 10 July 2014 - 08:49 PM

I was a telemarketer for some years... It's such a complicated, emotional-logical skill set that I think it's going to be very long time before AI can come close to duplicating human performance.






1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users