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Google's New 'Ask for Me' Search Feature Uses AI to Make Calls
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Stop making up nonsense.
1. I doubt there are 100 people in my area making the same request as i did.
2. It is their job to take calls from potential customers and answer questions.
3. It is not spammy like communication, i needed auto repair and instead of spending an hour on the phone calling several shops to find out if they offer these services the system can do that on my behalf and collate that information for me to make my final choice.
4. This is not a spam robo call.
5. End result? I found 2 auto shops out of the 6 and I'll be taking my car to one for servicing.
Business are free to opt out if they like but i would certainly hope they don't as i hate being on the phone.
And lose potential business? I am not so sure.
You have no ****ing clue how automation and extreme convenience works because you only think about yourself and your tech buzzword bingo.
It creates efficiency for one party but causes higher volume of stress on the other party.
For every person who downloads or uses an app that allows them to easily make automated calls or food orders, there is a business on the other end who become inundated with calls and orders.
That might sound good for business, but it the higher volume means a lot of waste and stress for the business. They have to employ more people and that might not be profitable. When they can’t find people to employ they have to rely on other means.
You admitted yourself that you just tested this feature out because you heard of it. It doesn’t look like you really were looking for auto parts. You read about the app and tested it out. That’s spam.
An AI bot isn't a "customer"; it's a half @ssed proxy for one. If I'm a small business owner I'm not subjecting my employees to interactions with these bots - UNLESS the customer is hearing impaired and there is a clear way to flag this.
Also, If you're using AI to determine if an auto repair shop is qualified to perform anything more advanced than an oil change, you're going to be sorely disappointed when you drive there and find out the shop can't actually do the repair or they can do the repair but the part you need has a 12 week lead time.
Would someone think of the poor business getting calls from potential customers. Get a grip, stop sounding like a technophobe worried about a nonexistent problem.
This is a legit time saving technology for both end users and businesses, it simply cuts conversation down to the necessity and avoids human fluff. Also it is a fantastic accessibility feature for people who suffer from anxiety, are hard of hearing, and people who cant speak. I can also imagine a scenario where people who can't speak English can easily use it and have the text translated back to them. The use case is limitless but you are only thinking about yourself.
Name one such business who is complaining about a useful feature like this. There is a distinction between making spam robocalls and actually have a legit agent calling on your behalf to get information about a business. Spam robocalls are terrible, i use to get 10s a day from scammers but this is not that.
Oh the horror, businesses have to hire more employees to deal with more costumers. Who could have possibly thought of that?
I read about the feature and tested it out for an actual problem that i have and it worked. Two of my tire pressure sensors are broke, my trunk refuses to unlatch electronically until you press the button at least 3 to 4 times and sometimes it fails to open. So yea stop making assumptions.
This is a fantastic feature i think businesses would love.
A proxy is "the authority to represent someone else". It is no different than having someone call on your behalf, the difference is, its an AI agent vs a person.
I am the customer who has authorized the agent to call on my behalf.
1 of the 6 shops stated they don't do electrical repairs, another stated they do electrical repairs but they only have 1 technician available, 2 quoted high price out of my range for just diagnostics and the other 2 are right in my budget. Google maps serves as an excellent place to look for customer reviews which both are highly rated. Any auto shop that can change tires can change tire pressure sensors. My trunk on the other hand could be a blown fuse but that's what the diagnostics should tell me. Nice try though.
This is an excellent feature.
It probably depends on the type of business. There are many I can image could lose money by paying someone to answer these AI bots if even a few come in each day. There are others however that might benefit from being able to share information they didn’t think to put on the website.
AI calls and AI prompts when calling a business are annoying. “We do not accept incoming calls from AI, please hang up and have your human call at their convenience.” 😂
It is no different than having someone call on your behalf aside from the than the fact that the someone isn't human and has limited ability to interact. If you're going to trust the quote your AI bot "negotiated" for you - for anything other than a basic service best of luck to you when it comes time to pay the bill. The bot isn't going to be able to sniff out a lowball quote designed to get you into the shop.
Again, as an accessibility feature or for basic reservations or appointments I can definitely see value. As a replacement for doing actual research because you're too lazy to call yourself...that's where I differ.
If you are a business, you can opt out of the AI calls. There is no need for hanging up on individual calls.
You will get these calls only if you are a business and only if you have opted for AI calls.
Does anyone coming up with this stuff stop to think:
"is this a good idea?"
"is this a good idea?"
It is not designed to negotiate for you, it is a price comparison tool.
What it does
1. Call businesses to find out if they offer X service
2. Asks for price
3. Ask for availability
4. It then sends you the information for you to decide what business to go with
For my use case, it called 6 auto shops and found 2 that were within my budget and i didn't have to spend 1hr making calls.
What it DOES NOT do
1. Negotiate for you
2. Make reservations for you
There is already a feature that does that.
It is literally a price comparison tool that helps you research without having to spend hours on the phone. I'd rather not spend 1 to 2 hours to call several business to find out prices. That's time i can spend on something else. If you are too stupid to see the usefulness of that then don't use it.... that's where I differ.
Very interesting. Waiting for it to be rolled out. Cannot wait to try this out. If it works well, it will be very useful.
With the AI getting advanced it was meant to happen but I will prefer to call on my own. At some point, business owners may get frustrated with the amount of calls they are getting due to this new feature.
Thanks to companies like Google, the US phone system is broken. Companies will just stop answering phones to take reservations. First Watch already makes it nearly impossible to place a pickup order for pancakes without using their App.
I've gotten over 1,000 phishing phone calls from India (15-20/day), mostly about "medicare renewal". So I've admitted defeat and now I'm just sending ALL unknown calls to voicemail.
I've gotten over 1,000 phishing phone calls from India (15-20/day), mostly about "medicare renewal". So I've admitted defeat and now I'm just sending ALL unknown calls to voicemail.
I own a business and I promise I am hanging up if a robot calls me and starts asking questions.