Pt 2:Implants and Imposters
2010: Researchers at USC announce the creation of the first "sales-bot", a prototype telephonic AI that is capable of initiating conversation. Working from scripts based on thousands of hours of observation of successful sales calls, the sales-bot's programming incorporates the standard expert system and voice recognition features of existing phone-bots with additional real-time psychological modeling and the latest in customer-preference grids to create a system that tailors its approach to the preferences and emotional responses of the listener. Based on the statistical preference grids in common usage on retail sites like Amazon.com, the system makes "educated guesses" not only about what sort of products the customer might be interested in, but also about what sort of psychological appeal is most likely to be effective with that customer.
2011: The first entirely automated telemarketers come on line. Replacing the standard recorded voice sales-pitch (which demonstrated extremely low rates of success) with an interactive AI that is not always easily distinguishable from a human telemarketer, the sales-bots employ massively modular "script trees" designed to prolong the interaction and screen for prospective buyers. Closing is still handled by human sales staff.
2012: With the falling price of tooth implant surgery eroding the status value of its highly lucrative Executive Class line, InCelCo responds by releasing the Elite Executive Class series, which replaces the bone-resonance tooth with a chip that feeds directly into the auditory nerve. The successful ad campaign urges executives to "Live in the Loop. No wires, no sound, just perfect fidelity, anywhere, anytime. Backed by the best service in the world. Because behind every successful business is an Elite Executive."
The vast bulk of public interactions with businesses are handled by computers. Calling a business and getting a human on the line becomes a mark of status. While corporations continue to conduct some of their internal business through person-to-person interactions, such interactions with the general public become increasingly rare. With the rise of automated "cell-spam" placing an ever-growing burden on the communications grid, secure networks that allow person-to-person calls only between registered users become yet another mark of status.
InCelCo incorporates just such a secure network into their Elite CEO class series, which boasts a "100% effective barrier to unwanted calls and unauthorized interactions."
Next: Pt 3: The Ear of the King
Posted by flamingbanjo at August 13, 2005 02:22 PM