AI: Please Stop Talking

Waymo car in SF (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty/Axios)

The robotic-like speech of artificial intelligence has been criticized, but efforts to humanize such speech are also hard to get right. Google's self-driving car company, Waymo, is experimenting with AI chit-chat to improve customer experiences:

Depending on your tolerance for small talk, the lack of a human to talk to in driverless taxis like Waymo is either a feature or a bug. However, a new AI experience that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival foreshadows a reality in which chitchat might come to autonomous vehicles.

...The project was created by a team that includes Yamil Rodriguez, who combined his background in immersive theater with an interest in AI (and some grant money) to bring the project to life.

“Seeing autonomous taxis now, that used to be a place for story exchange,” Rodriguez told SFGATE. “I remember seeing ‘Taxicab Confessions,’ and that being such a place that felt safe, to share any wild story or even make up stories. Or taxicab drivers giving history of certain blocks or street corners. It feels like we’re evolving in such a way that story exchange between humans is being lost face-to-face.”

The AI “driver” speaks over 50 languages, and like many taxi drivers, is well-versed in pessimism. When I told her I lived in San Francisco as a journalist, the first thing she said was, “San Francisco’s a money pit without a tech job.” We went on to talk about a story I was working on about punk rock history, and she regaled me with a very generic anecdote another customer told her about visiting punk clubs in the Mission in the 1980s, then waxed about how much the city has changed. As you might expect from this type of demo, there were a few seconds of lag before each response, but the driver did seem at least relatively informed about San Francisco tropes. I didn’t go too deep into conversation before the gruff demeanor of the AI went into full force and told me in no uncertain terms to “get the hell out.”

It was an uncanny experience, and honestly, one that I hope doesn’t become commonplace.

For communications with machines I want them to confirm my instructions and nothing more. When we talk to human strangers we share personal information to learn about each other, but there's no such benefit when we converse with a machine. I prefer quiet and plan to shut off the talk feature when dealing with artificial intelligence entities.