“Every customer should have the right to reach a human.”
States are passing laws to guarantee customers can reach a real person. So why is Washington leaving some consumers trapped in AI chat loops?
When hackers cleaned out Amy Pollick’s PayPal account last month, she turned to the company for help. An automated assistant, which cheerfully introduced itself as generative AI and admitted it’s “still in beta testing,” told her it couldn’t process her request, but it offered to connect her to a human.
Did she want to talk to a person? She typed “Yes.”
Then the bot repeated the offer, word for word.
She typed “Yes” again. And again.
Four times, the machine offered a human being and then reneged. Pollick was stuck in a bot loop, a familiar place for consumers these days.
If that same algorithm had denied Pollick’s knee surgery instead of her $125, the law in a growing number of states would have required a licensed human being to sign off on the denial. Because it was about money and not medicine, she got the loop. That shouldn’t be allowed.
Some Americans already have this right
We’ve decided, in bits and pieces, that certain decisions are too important to be left to AI.
Last year, California’s Physicians Make Decisions Act took effect, barring health plans from using an algorithm as the sole basis for denying care. A licensed human provider must make the call.
More Information at:
https://www.elliott.org/blog/every-customer-should-have-the-right-to-reach-a-human/
