this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

There’s a NYT article somewhere, and I’ve been desperately trying to find it, about a woman who worked as some kind of real estate(?) call center AI augmenter. Essentially people would call in about listings or something, and she had to step in when the AI went off the tracks or didn’t know how to answer questions, matching its tone/inflection while refusing to acknowledge that there was a human stepping in. She ended up being super burnt out from the job. So the whole system was just super redundant, awful for the people working there, and as we’ve come to expect from AI, just a half-baked turd sold to some MBAs for a mint.

Edit: it was a n+1 piece, thanks @[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I think I know what you're talking about. She was also a chat room operator for an only fans creator too , right?

Edit: I might be mashing a few similar stories together in my head. Anyway, this might be the one you're taking about https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/13/becoming-a-chatbot-my-life-as-a-real-estate-ais-human-backup

Edit 2: This is the same person, also a good read https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/essays/an-age-of-hyperabundance/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

You know what, it was the n+1 piece! Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

A lot of "AI systems" are literally just a dude in India. Outsourced human labour is cheaper than building and running a proper AI driven system, but companies want to say they're "incorporating AI" because it makes shareholders dicks hard.