npr’s look at automated phone system

I was reading a bit this morning on Amtrak’s Julie. Julie is an automated phone system that responds to callers in a conversation-style. I know other companies, such as American Airlines and AT&T Wireless, have also dabbled in conversative automatic phone systems. Some of them work rather well while others make me curse out the automated phone system demanding that I talk to a manager. Luckily, for now, the “manager”, what we used to call a company operator, is still a human being, flesh and blood.

Some time ago, NPR did a little piece on it looking forward to where automated phone systems could go. It provides a humorous look at these systems and how they are becoming more “real”.

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