Besides creeping dystopia of it, I find this aesthetically disgusting most of all.
If you listen to the sample call, the computer voice sounds incredibly _rude_, at least to my ears, especially at the end of the call. I would never speak to a service employee that way. I try to always say a clear and proper please and thank you, and would never ever want a robot to subject somebody to an"uhhhhh, thanks <hang up>" on my behalf.
It seems like in addition to the globalization of Californian social and moral standards, the world will now be subjected to Californian manners. What a pity.
Let's not get over dramatic here. To sound natural of course the computer system has to copy natural behavior, which includes manners. The experimental version of this system happens to include behavior modeling of phone conversations of people that live where the developers work and live, seems logical. It doesn't mean that the same model will be used in other cultural contexts. An ideal model would copy your behavior (and/or voice), so it would be like you calling.
Just have to let Google listen and analyze all your conversations :)
Mechanizing manners is just as creepy. Chik-fil-a employees aren't allowed to say "you're welcome", they have to respond to every expression of gratitude with the phrase, "My pleasure."
Exactly, and you're from California. You see this as normal. I'm from England. What Californians see as normal, or casual , or "chill", I think we see as being rude. I think this is extends in personal interactions, professional interactions and customer/company relations like this one.
I imagine that if I used this service to place an order to a restaurant, it would order with the Californian "cannIgettuhh", which I would be scalded for as a child. I find it very ugly and I hope that this isn't forced upon the rest of the world. But really, it's just one facet of the way technology is destroying a lot of interpersonal respect.
One can even imagine this "deficient design" being taken to it's logical conclusion with the inclusion of belching, grunts, and other inconsiderate bodily sounds.
The other poster says not to worry, surely the engineers will be more considerate about other cultures and customs when deploying this technology to the world, but I think that's incredibly naive considering this company's track record.
I guess I should be sorry for bastardizing your language?
But really, a conversation like the one you're looking for would be just as out-of-place in California as the one you saw in the article would be in England. It's important to match regional customs if you're trying to emulate and interact with humans.
I'm from the American southeast, and if anyone bastardized the English language it was us. When I listened to the recordings I cringed at how rude they sounded. If Google can build this thing, they can certainly adapt it to regional customs if they want to. Hopefully they do.
If you listen to the sample call, the computer voice sounds incredibly _rude_, at least to my ears, especially at the end of the call. I would never speak to a service employee that way. I try to always say a clear and proper please and thank you, and would never ever want a robot to subject somebody to an"uhhhhh, thanks <hang up>" on my behalf.
It seems like in addition to the globalization of Californian social and moral standards, the world will now be subjected to Californian manners. What a pity.