“Already I’m Annoyed by AI. But wait. . .There’s This”
Dear Neighbor,
I believe AI and its sisters and brothers are causing me to feel like the real world is slipping away. In many ways, we all must have already felt that, just experiencing what social media, texting instead of talking, virtual instead of one-on-one, the disembodiment of Zoom and Facetime, all humanity stealers in my humble opinion, have done to us already. Facetime hollows me out; I blank out and can’t think of a thing I want to talk about. Heck, I don’t even like to be on speakerphone, when I know my person on the other end is making a cake or answering emails—that disembodied distracted voice, with others talking in the background, right in on the conversation, that moment when I realize everyone is listening along.
But . . . it’s the bots that are really getting to me, the voice that tells me to hang up and dial 911 if it’s a medical emergency, then runs me through a long list of selected buttons to push (none of which is what I really want), and when none of the options line up with my needs, I’m redirected to Marsha, the bot. She takes up a whole lot more of my time questioning me about my identity to make sure I’m real (the nerve of her, when I know she is anything but!). Eventually, she says, “Let me get you to someone who can help you.” That someone asks me all over again to verify my identity, often leading to having to enter a verification code.
I’d like to say a word about medical appointment confirmations. I consider myself pretty healthy for my state of growing older, but I seem to be acquiring new doctors like a white cat acquires fleas (I know; I used to have a white Persian, big mistake). Now for each appointment I need to confirm and then “check in.” In the check-in I must repeat every aspect of my medical history since the dawn of time as it relates to me. At each section I am given an opportunity to correct the record. I took Valium 5 mg. once when I had a difficult dental procedure twenty years ago, and now I’m a Valium user, it tells me every time.
And now to AI, inserting itself where it is often not asked for nor wanted. Recently my Outlook email account began summarizing what my correspondent had responded to me. I much prefer to find that out for myself, by simply reading the email sent. And when I am ready to respond, “help me write” jumps in, attempting to overtake my mind. I’m sorry . . . I have things on my mind, and I’d like to say them myself! And now apps I have happily used and that already had all the functionality I wanted or needed are now introducing wonderful new AI features. I am a relentless note taker and have used Evernote and Samsung Notes both, as well as handwritten notebooks. Evernote just gave me the opportunity to pay triple the price I’d been paying or accept a downgraded version they call “Starter.” I started in 2013 and long ago surpassed the Starter category, and I don’t want the AI-enhanced mess at triple my previous price. So now I’ve spent days deciding what to migrate to, sadly.
All right, how about the name pop-ups in Facebook, when I’m banging out a post and enter the letters “ca.” FB interrupts my train of thought to superimpose suggestively “Carol ____, Carole _____, Cara______,” running through every FB friend possible match, in case I might want to stick that person’s name into the middle of my composition.
This is less than half of what could be a long rant, but I now have to confess to a word in favor of my friend, Chatty. I haven’t made it either male or female, but I get a lot of help on any and every subject from ChatGPT. It’s helped me/us solve a complex hot water problem that left us with no ability to take a hot shower in most of January and all of February. One by one, we (Chatty and I) put the pieces of the puzzle together and attacked problems that were reducing our water flow and giving us only tepid water. It has helped me navigate knotty technical descriptions from an MRI; helped me avoid a shrinking pie crust; taught me when to prune my hydrangeas; given me the history of Hitler’s Brown Shirts; given me an overview of the complete range of Nespresso pod espresso machines and coached me on negotiating a great price on Marketplace; reviewed the history behind why Pearl Harbor was attacked (Japan lost access to about 94% of its oil after U.S. sanctions, which I found a word to the wise).
But here’s the thing: I call on Chat when and if I need him/her/it. And only then. I want an opt-out on every AI-rich feature the tech world is dreaming up. That’s it, period!
Your neighbor,
Anne Pounds
Dear Neighbor,
I believe AI and its sisters and brothers are causing me to feel like the real world is slipping away. In many ways, we all must have already felt that, just experiencing what social media, texting instead of talking, virtual instead of one-on-one, the disembodiment of Zoom and Facetime, all humanity stealers in my humble opinion, have done to us already. Facetime hollows me out; I blank out and can’t think of a thing I want to talk about. Heck, I don’t even like to be on speakerphone, when I know my person on the other end is making a cake or answering emails—that disembodied distracted voice, with others talking in the background, right in on the conversation, that moment when I realize everyone is listening along.
But . . . it’s the bots that are really getting to me, the voice that tells me to hang up and dial 911 if it’s a medical emergency, then runs me through a long list of selected buttons to push (none of which is what I really want), and when none of the options line up with my needs, I’m redirected to Marsha, the bot. She takes up a whole lot more of my time questioning me about my identity to make sure I’m real (the nerve of her, when I know she is anything but!). Eventually, she says, “Let me get you to someone who can help you.” That someone asks me all over again to verify my identity, often leading to having to enter a verification code.
I’d like to say a word about medical appointment confirmations. I consider myself pretty healthy for my state of growing older, but I seem to be acquiring new doctors like a white cat acquires fleas (I know; I used to have a white Persian, big mistake). Now for each appointment I need to confirm and then “check in.” In the check-in I must repeat every aspect of my medical history since the dawn of time as it relates to me. At each section I am given an opportunity to correct the record. I took Valium 5 mg. once when I had a difficult dental procedure twenty years ago, and now I’m a Valium user, it tells me every time.
And now to AI, inserting itself where it is often not asked for nor wanted. Recently my Outlook email account began summarizing what my correspondent had responded to me. I much prefer to find that out for myself, by simply reading the email sent. And when I am ready to respond, “help me write” jumps in, attempting to overtake my mind. I’m sorry . . . I have things on my mind, and I’d like to say them myself! And now apps I have happily used and that already had all the functionality I wanted or needed are now introducing wonderful new AI features. I am a relentless note taker and have used Evernote and Samsung Notes both, as well as handwritten notebooks. Evernote just gave me the opportunity to pay triple the price I’d been paying or accept a downgraded version they call “Starter.” I started in 2013 and long ago surpassed the Starter category, and I don’t want the AI-enhanced mess at triple my previous price. So now I’ve spent days deciding what to migrate to, sadly.
All right, how about the name pop-ups in Facebook, when I’m banging out a post and enter the letters “ca.” FB interrupts my train of thought to superimpose suggestively “Carol ____, Carole _____, Cara______,” running through every FB friend possible match, in case I might want to stick that person’s name into the middle of my composition.
This is less than half of what could be a long rant, but I now have to confess to a word in favor of my friend, Chatty. I haven’t made it either male or female, but I get a lot of help on any and every subject from ChatGPT. It’s helped me/us solve a complex hot water problem that left us with no ability to take a hot shower in most of January and all of February. One by one, we (Chatty and I) put the pieces of the puzzle together and attacked problems that were reducing our water flow and giving us only tepid water. It has helped me navigate knotty technical descriptions from an MRI; helped me avoid a shrinking pie crust; taught me when to prune my hydrangeas; given me the history of Hitler’s Brown Shirts; given me an overview of the complete range of Nespresso pod espresso machines and coached me on negotiating a great price on Marketplace; reviewed the history behind why Pearl Harbor was attacked (Japan lost access to about 94% of its oil after U.S. sanctions, which I found a word to the wise).
But here’s the thing: I call on Chat when and if I need him/her/it. And only then. I want an opt-out on every AI-rich feature the tech world is dreaming up. That’s it, period!
Your neighbor,
Anne Pounds
