AI is very good at gathering information rapidly and giving an answer. However, the answer is only as good as the information it finds; AI still has a lot of trouble handling simple conversations and problems.

On Saturday afternoon, our WIFI, internet, landline, and cable went kaput. Four hours later, I called Xfinity to report the problems. On my second automated call, I got through to a human who determined we had significant problems and needed a technician. An appointment was set for Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM. I had to pick-up a modem because somehow, they don’t have those on the trucks.

During the night I got my first automated response:

This number was provided to receive reminders for an upcoming Xfinity appointment to receive these updates. Reply YES to receive these updates.

Text Help or Stop.

I responded with a simple Yes. The machine didn’t understand this, so it responded:

I’m having trouble following our conversation. Please type a message and follow the prompts presented.

I responded. “Let me know if there are updates on appointment” and the autopen responded:

I can help manage your appointments once you sign in to your account.

1. Sign in
2. Recover username
3. Appointment presentation

The computer clearly didn’t understand that we had no WIFI or internet and couldn’t log in.

My response was:

I have a flip phone and can’t sign in.

Then, the idiot computer responded:

Please sign into your account so I can assist you.

1. Sign in
2. I need help signing in

My response: “I can’t sign in.”

And the computer without a brain responded:

No Problem. Do you need help recovering your Xfinity ID password?

1. Reset my Xfinity password
2. I forgot my Xfinity ID
3. What’s an Xfinity ID?
4. I don’t have an Xfinity ID

My response: “No, all I need is the time the technician is showing up to fix the problem. They are supposed to be here at 3:00 PM.”

And the worthless autopen responded:

I can help manage your appointments once you sign into your account.

And my response: “Read my message.”

And the programmed mummy replied:

I need a little more help. You can try asking a short question like when is my bill due or selecting one of the options below.

1. Troubleshooting
2. WiFi password
3. Account issues
4. Billing
5. Appointments

This continued on, and on, and on. At my wit’s end, I finally said “this discussion is worthless.” (I didn’t say it was as worthless as a Kamala word salad or a debate with Joe Biden though, nor did I curse and call the machine stupid. I figured it was probably programmed to act offended and hang up on me.)

The response?

I’m having trouble following our conversation. Please type a message and follow the prompts presented.

So I said “Stop” and got a threatening response:

You will be unsubscribed from all automated calls from Xfinity including billing updates, appointment reminders and outage alerts. Reply START to all service related calls and alerts.

So I responded “Start” so I could get updated calls on my appointment, and it replied, “Got it, you are now resubscribed to service-related calls and texts.”

The computer didn’t understand the word “yes,” but was programmed to understand Stop and Start.

I have had more intelligent conversations with my two-year-old grandchildren than with AI. 

I am 72 years old and do not recall such a long, worthless, and frustrating conversation that could have been handled by a human and I in a ten-second conversation.

Anyway, I went in on Sunday morning to pick the modem and I confirmed the appointment at 3:00 PM with a human who said he saw it on the computer. But he said sometimes the technicians don’t show up. At 4:00 PM I called Xfinity and asked when the technicians would arrive, and they said I had no appointment. They said it was cancelled the night before. So somehow, an appointment was set and cancelled simultaneously. I am typing this Monday morning, and hoping they show up between 1:00 and 3:00 on Tuesday afternoon.

On Sunday, an hour after I set this new appointment for Tuesday, I was driving and received an automated message that the technicians had fixed the problem and I could cancel the appointment. I didn’t take the bait and kept the appointment—it is good I did because nothing is working.

Throughout these conversations, Xfinity tried to get me to switch my mobile phone contract to them. I am not that senile. I am as likely to do that as I am to vote for Kamala or Newsom or ride in an AI-driven car.

Humans make mistakes but AI can’t carry on a decent conversation and certainly didn’t give a s**t about my problem nor did it understand that I am angry.

Image from Grok.