Voice Mail Shouldn’t Be Used

Did you know the person that invented voice mail thought it’s use was bastardized.

Now I just saw something saying that voice mail SHOULDN’T be used and that you should just send a text……(The youngin’s don’t like it)

I guess they want to take the human (voice) element out of everything.

Side note- I’ve noticed “they” are wanting to do this with so much, fake candles vs real 🔥 that has a comfort to humans that’s hard to explain, electric stoves vs gas stoves.
How many people now have never been in a real body of water in their life?
How many people have sown, picked and eaten food they have grown?
How many people wear fake fabric made with synthetics? (C’mon try REAL organic linen just once….just once!)


Back to voicemail, have you noticed the one part AI/Robots/Automation hasn’t been able to perfect is voice/sound. It’s dang close, but if you listen closely the human brain can pick up something that is off.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I suppose the question I have here is how many people will be bothered to find out if the voice on the VM is AI cloned or not? I would say maybe 0.03%...my statistical reasoning from common sense metrics analyzing at this point in time .

To put it in the simplest way, AI Voice Cloning is a deepfake technique that can analyze and replicate a human’s voice. It’s like creating a copy of the person you wish your script to sound like.

geekflare.com...

a reply to: JAGStorm

That's kinda funny about voice mail because in case you hadn't noticed, NO ONE, except peons, actually answer the phone anymore.
I figured out by watching what my acquaintences do that phone use has become a "status" thing. Answering phone calls indicates "low status"; answering texts is verboten as to the HIGHEST status people. In my area, the Highest of High status people actually only send texts to those one notch below them and tell THEM to send a text to a group of people.

Oddly enough, and for reasons I can't understand, social stratification has actually gotten a whole lot worse over the years.

It's become irksome, but it's interesting to watch.

a reply to: TonyS


It is funny, I think it has more to do with social anxiety and this generation doesn't know how to talk to each other!

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: TonyS


It is funny, I think it has more to do with social anxiety and this generation doesn't know how to talk to each other!

I absolutely think this might be the reason.

a reply to: JAGStorm

You may well be correct.
www.wsj.com...

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: TonyS


It is funny, I think it has more to do with social anxiety and this generation doesn't know how to talk to each other!

I am a "Boomer", and I actually prefer to send, and receive, texts.

Why? Because, as you proposed above, most of the people that I've encountered throughout my life "don't know how to talk"...at least coherently enough to leave an acceptably cogent voice message.

Granted, there is some pressure to encapsulate the important points of your call within the sometimes limited length of the message allowance. But I would argue that you should have already prepared to communicate that information before initiating the call in the first place.

Too often I have been confronted by someone attempting, unsuccessfully, to leave a voice mail, but all they manage to sputter is a jumble of "aaahhh's," "uummmm's", and seemingly random "stream of consciousness" non-sequiters. This, combined with the garbled phone numbers (Dude! You called me...I got your digits!), have turned me off as far as voice messaging is concerned.

a reply to: TonyS

I am not one who likes to gab on the phone. so my number is given to very few people. When caller ID shows an unfamiliar number or no number shows up I never answer.

Funny thing; even people who have my number will hang up on my answering machine without leaving a message, but get upset when I get a chance to return their call and don't leave a message when I get their answering machine.
When quizzed about it I always get 'I don't like to talk to machines'.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I think us old folk are the ones that have trouble with the uncanny valley.

I think the younger generations have more trouble relating to us old folk than they do AI.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I took a class called “music cognition” recently. In a nutshell, it was about how people process music, but the last week was devoted to issues arising from the rise of AI.

AI programs can now be “trained” to, e.g., compose in the style of Beethoven or emulate the voice of mainstream rapper Drake. AI voices are now being used in voiceover applications, and studies have shown that human are able to discern authentic human voices from AI-generated voices with accuracy no better than a coin toss.

The technology is advancing quickly.

However, in cases where researchers revealed to participants that a voice was AI (where it was previously thought to be human) the participants opinion of the voice flipped. In other words, when participants found a voice more or less pleasant at first, simply learning it was AI changed their opinion.

At this point, we still prefer human voices. That’s comforting.

a reply to: QRST4

That doesn't surprise me. I like some AI art, I think it has it's place, but you can just tell something is off.
Humans aren't perfect, and maybe that imperfection is exactly what is perfect in our eyes.
So when something is perfect, it doesn't seem "right"? Maybe music/voice is the same?

I played around with some AI face filters, they often want to make me into a black woman, which is really weird because i'm Asian American, and about as white as an Asian as they come. I think it is because I have curly hair, that messes up the AI logic or something... BUT one time, I used a filter that makes you look old timey and what it produced shocked me. Staring back at me was my German grandmother.... I really don't look like her at all, but somehow with the filter, I did...exactly..

voicemail made sense in an era when you had a single land-line phone, and an answering machine.

Now, if you call and I don't pick up.... don't even bother.
Hell- unless its urgent, don't text- I'll see that you called and when it's convenient for me I'll call you back.

If you leave me a voicemail, I have to CALL my voicemail to get the message left by the person who I already know called, because of the missed call notification.
What's the point of calling that to listen to your message instead of just calling you back?

Waste of time for both of us. Get rid of it.

texts are superior either way, though- because I can re-read them, and respond when I have time- and YOU can read and respond when YOU have time. There's no reason to be dicking around on the telephone unless you have a problem to solve that requires 100% of the attention from both parties.

This is why everyone with an office job hates meetings and conference calls that could just as easily be an email.

a reply to: JAGStorm

It’s kind of spooky that the AI generated an image of you that looks like your grandmother!

AI is such a mess right now. I, and most people I know, are skeptical about how it’s all going to play out in the long term. There’s so much potential for abuse.

But its existence generates interesting discussion, for instance, regarding AI music. Sure, it’s neat that an AI can compose in the style of Mozart, but can we consider the output real art? Is it entertainment? What’s the difference between the two?

But one thing is certain: we’re not going back. AI is here to stay, so the best thing to do is be educated about it.

And there’s one great benefit I’ve heard of. There are apparently AIs now that can detect certain types of cancer (from analyzing medical images) with higher success rates than the best doctors.

originally posted by: QRST4
a reply to: JAGStorm


But one thing is certain: we’re not going back. AI is here to stay, so the best thing to do is be educated about it.

And there’s one great benefit I’ve heard of. There are apparently AIs now that can detect certain types of cancer (from analyzing medical images) with higher success rates than the best doctors.

It doesn't get tired, or bored, or distracted.

It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop...


what could go wrong?

Many people I know, including myself, haven't even set up voice mail on our cells. And if I don't recognize a number, I don't answer. There are very few people I desire to have any contact with. And the few I do, know how to text.

I totally get what most are saying here. However I am so bloody thankful my partner who past away a year ago July 2022
was old fashion & always left a voice mail. I am so Very Thankful I saved the last 6 or so because I was worried if something
ever happened I would never hear it again. I was blessed.
I still have them there & need to figure out how & where to save the messages.

Now, of course voice mail is full ATM until I save & etc...but even after that I will still NOT answer calls I don't recognize
& maybe will eliminate that opt all together. Now that AI can manipulate your voice, do you think a voice mail would still have merit in a court of law? I think text & emails still do...time & date stamped & etc.

Cheers
Ektar

I don’t want anything recording my voice. Little snip here, a little edit there.. Shazam! Oh here we have an audio recording of Kaiju666 saying [insert whatever sentence you would like here]. Smartphones, Siri and Alexa and creators can go to Hell’s Kitchen.