Bad use of AI

[Scott Livingston]

One of my dentist clients uses a practice management software made by a company called Dentrix. The software is nowhere near what I would call stable and they are constantly having issues. Fortunately, the support is US based and quite competent. Until last week. Last week when I called in for an issue “Lisa” the AI answered. I gave it a chance. I wasted 10 minutes being asked inane questions that there were no relevant answers to. I started saying “agent” over and over and was finally transferred to a person. I made it clear to the person that I wasn’t impressed with the AI and that if my client was going to spend the money on support then we damn well expected to get it from a human, not an AI. She resolved my issue in 5 minutes and it was done. Definitely a fail for that particular AI.

 

Comcast has also gone to an AI for front line support, and it’s really frustrating. The only solution is to say “agent” over and over until it transfers you to a human. If I want to pay a bill, that’s fine, but if I have an issue, being told by an AI to power cycle my modem repeatedly isn’t much help.

 

-ScottL

[Mike Schietinger]

On Friday my son and I were are the accepted students tour of the Depaul school for business (he's looking at finance or accounting) the curriculum team was very clear that every class is taught with AI as a key tool they should be very experienced with. "Ai is the future of business and we are ready to teach the future"

A little concerning 

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[Joel Phelps]

I spent more than 20 years working with customer service software.   Almost universally I found that customer service organizations have the following characteristics:

First, they are run by people who started as agents and worked they way up.  They know how to hire, train and schedule staff.  They may know the user side of their existing technology.

Second, they are almost universally focused on reducing costs and all of metrics reflect this.  

Not an ideal environment for cutting edge customer service experience.

Sent from my phone

On Mar 9, 2026, at 4:36 AM, Scott Livingston <sco...@a2computing.com> wrote:



One of my dentist clients uses a practice management software made by a company called Dentrix. The software is nowhere near what I would call stable and they are constantly having issues. Fortunately, the support is US based and quite competent. Until last week. Last week when I called in for an issue “Lisa” the AI answered. I gave it a chance. I wasted 10 minutes being asked inane questions that there were no relevant answers to. I started saying “agent” over and over and was finally transferred to a person. I made it clear to the person that I wasn’t impressed with the AI and that if my client was going to spend the money on support then we damn well expected to get it from a human, not an AI. She resolved my issue in 5 minutes and it was done. Definitely a fail for that particular AI.

 

Comcast has also gone to an AI for front line support, and it’s really frustrating. The only solution is to say “agent” over and over until it transfers you to a human. If I want to pay a bill, that’s fine, but if I have an issue, being told by an AI to power cycle my modem repeatedly isn’t much help.

 

-ScottL

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[Mark Kinsler]

How about an autonomous death robot?  These were used as revenge by the defeated Nazi regime, who buried them in mountains to auto-revive ten years after the Allied victory?

Oh.  I think that came from a Sargent Rock comic book I read in 1958.  

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Mark Kinsler

512 East Mulberry Street
Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130
740-503-1973

[Dave Typinski]

We already have those, they're called LAWs, lethal autonomous weapons.
Basically an AI-controlled armed drone.
--
Dave

On 3/9/26 12:08, Mark Kinsler wrote:
> How about an autonomous death robot? These were used as revenge by the defeated
> Nazi regime, who buried them in mountains to auto-revive ten years after the
> Allied victory?
>
> Oh. I think that came from a Sargent Rock comic book I read in 1958.
>
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2026 at 10:46 AM Joel Phelps <joel.e...@gmail.com
> <mailto:joel.e...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I spent more than 20 years working with customer service software. Almost
> universally I found that customer service organizations have the following
> characteristics:
> First, they are run by people who started as agents and worked they way up.
> They know how to hire, train and schedule staff. They may know the user
> side of their existing technology.
> Second, they are almost universally focused on reducing costs and all of
> metrics reflect this.
>
> Not an ideal environment for cutting edge customer service experience.
>
> Sent from my phone
>
>> On Mar 9, 2026, at 4:36 AM, Scott Livingston <sco...@a2computing.com

>> <mailto:sco...@a2computing.com>> wrote:
>>
>> 
>>
>> One of my dentist clients uses a practice management software made by a
>> company called Dentrix. The software is nowhere near what I would call
>> stable and they are constantly having issues. Fortunately, the support is
>> US based and quite competent. Until last week. Last week when I called in
>> for an issue “Lisa” the AI answered. I gave it a chance. I wasted 10
>> minutes being asked inane questions that there were no relevant answers
>> to. I started saying “agent” over and over and was finally transferred to
>> a person. I made it clear to the person that I wasn’t impressed with the
>> AI and that if my client was going to spend the money on support then we
>> damn well expected to get it from a human, not an AI. She resolved my
>> issue in 5 minutes and it was done. Definitely a fail for that particular

>> AI.____
>>
>> __ __

>>
>> Comcast has also gone to an AI for front line support, and it’s really
>> frustrating. The only solution is to say “agent” over and over until it
>> transfers you to a human. If I want to pay a bill, that’s fine, but if I
>> have an issue, being told by an AI to power cycle my modem repeatedly

>> isn’t much help.____
>>
>> __ __
>>
>> -ScottL____

>>
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>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/howthingswork/MW4PR13MB5961736C94AD34534B086D318579A%40MW4PR13MB5961.namprd13.prod.outlook.com

>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/howthingswork/MW4PR13MB5961736C94AD34534B086D318579A%40MW4PR13MB5961.namprd13.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>
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>
>
>
> --
> Mark Kinsler
> 512 East Mulberry Street
> Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130
> 740-503-1973
>

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[Mark Kinsler]

So I heard.  These will be amusing to test.  Likely data sources would be Mynmar and Minneapolis.  

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[Joel Phelps]

If they really developed advanced intelligence fot missiles, the USA would quickly find its present leadership dead.

Sent from my phone

On Mar 9, 2026, at 9:27 AM, Mark Kinsler <kins...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Paul Koning]

One reason we like our dentist is that he doesn't go for such nonsense.  In fact, I once asked him if he used cloud based software.  The answer was "no way" -- his reason was simple, he doesn't want his practice to have to shut down if Internet service has problems.  So his systems are simply local, with all data right there in the office.  And his office/reception is one very nice person who always answers the phone.

paul

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