LETTER: Complexity of simple questions for banks’ bots show up AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be the flavour of the month. Before he died British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author Steven Hawkins claimed it was a threat to humanity and urged governments to do more in controlling it.

Around the same time my bank said it had sent me a new credit card. It didn’t arrive. When I asked the bank’s chatbot where it was, it replied “Your question is too complicated, can you rephrase it?” I found it eventually in a drawer at my branch.

Sometimes a phone call, email, or face-to-face meeting is better at solving life’s little problems.

Bernard Benson
Parklands

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