Thirteen years ago (ouch!), I posted a thesis idea for someone studying computer science:
To a master’s student looking to do something with speech, I’d say “build a system that will occupy telephone solicitors.” The challenge for the computer is to keep the phone solicitor under the impression that he or she has reached a human being for as long as possible. The beauty of this system is that if installed in a wealthy area there would be a near-endless stream of calls on which to test the quality of the result and that, if a high quality system were widely installed on PCs nationwide, it would put the phone solicitors out of business (because they’d be spending so much time and money talking to computers programmed to keep them on the line indefinitely).
Companion: National multi-school contest for the best system.
It seems that the glorious day has come to pass! Gizmodo has published “Today’s Hero Made an AI That Annoys Telemarketers For As Long As Possible” about jollyrogertelephone.com. Not a bad effort, but a lot more could be done by someone researching speech recognition.
A pretty example for direct listening: on YouTube.
Tsk, tsk, Phil, how is that business-hostile idea that you have gestated for 13 long years (while simultaneously sheltering easily-impressionable, actually indoctrinable, underage children under your roof) something worthy to cherish in public, to behold? By wasting the hardworking telemarketers’ valuable time, you effectively contribute to their own kids going hungry, which leads to shoplifting [at Whole Foods, say], and from there to graver crimes, a stepwise devolution of The American Dream! If that was your objective, then the commies can sleep soundly at night: they need not lift a finger to sabotage America, because Americans such as yourself will gladly do their bidding!
The solution I adopted probably wasn’t possible thirteen years ago. I bought two MagicJacks. I transferred my long-standing land-line number to one of them, then cancelled the land-line service with the local telephone company. That MagicJack has the cheapest land-line telephone I could find, with the ringer turned off so I never answer it. Consequently, all calls go to the MagicJack voice mail box, which then sends me an email alerting me to the presence of the voice mail, which I can listen to or ignore at my leisure. Most telemarketing calls don’t wait to leave a message; only robocallers leave messages, but that is only because they think there’s someone actually listening to them. There are way more days that I don’t get any telemarketing voice messages than days that I do get them. This makes me suspect that telemarketing systems learn which numbers never answer and stop calling them. I give that phone number out wherever a phone number is needed (doctors, dentists, merchants, banks, etc.).
The other “private” MagicJack is used for all calls to/from anyone I actually have an interest in talking to. Both MagicJacks cost about $60/year total to use (on top of whatever I pay for internet broadband service; service on each MJ costs about $20/year, about $10/year to keep my old land-line number on one of them, and about $20/year for E911 service on both of them).
I also have a (free) Google Voice phone number, which is the number that I give to family/friends. The Google Voice number is set up to ring both my “private” MagicJack number and my cell phone number, so people only need to know one phone number to be able to reach me wherever I am.
Another advantage of the MagicJack is that if you travel outside the country, you can take it with you and use it with your laptop computer (or possibly even a computer in an internet cafe) to make free calls back to the states.
Disclaimer: I don’t have any financial interest in MagicJack, other than the money I save by not having a telephone company land line.
Is AI really necessary for this application? I try to find strange YouTube videos and put them on my answering machine. After i say hello. Like this: link.
@ Lynn Clark: so, effectively, your highly restricted telephone shielding service costs ~$190/year, though what’s of use to you is at most $60 for one MagicJack, and the $10 E911 service (whatever that is; sounds like an emergency call number, which I’d have assumed to be free of charge – do not US cell phones have that basic ability to call 911 even without top-up/ a SIM card?)
You convinced me, jay c, this truly is the opposite of AI, Natural Stupidity. Of course, then there’s the slight problem of stuffing the all-important “Crazy Eddie” visual FX down the telephone line, but I suppose as we went to the Moon, not because it was easy… so it can’t be insurmountable.
A friend uses the simple method of saying ‘let me go get the person you want to talk to’. He then leaves the cold callers waiting until they give up. He does not get many cold calls.
Who answers the phone when it’s not somebody already in the address book? I never do. Nobody I know does. Are there still very large numbers of people compulsively picking up their AT&T issue Bakelite phone oblivious to caller id displays and the existence of voicemail?
ianf: land lines in the US are taxed to provide 911 service. I forget how because it’s been 10 years since we’ve had a land line. We pay $.75/line each month for cell phones for 911 service. Some VOIP services offer and some require a 911 service because your device could be anywhere in the world.
I have an Obihai device that uses Google Voice to take calls and make calls. That costs me $0 after I bought the device. Google Voice requires me to have a number to forward calls to. I pay $.99/month for a VOIP service and don’t use it. This services doesn’t require 911 service although they may offer it. Having a number makes Google Voice happy.
We started out with a Linksys PAP-2T device and the VOIP service. I highly, highly recommend the Obihai device and Google Voice directly.
I’ve paid the money to Google to port two different cell phones (one for a kids soccer club, one for a cub scout pack) to Google Voice. A one time $20 port fee and you have a voicemail system that sends email to you only when there’s a call. Or you could have it ring to your phone.