callers think I’m AI

A reader writes:

I recently moved across the country to be closer to my partner’s extended family. We went from a large metropolitan area to a smaller town, where I transitioned to a new industry. My new job entails answering the phone, which, frankly, is something I have always excelled at. However, for whatever reason (geography, industry, or the simple increased prevalence of AI), I’m now confronted several times each day by people who assume that I am AI. Their reactions range from treating me as non-human (gruffly yelling, “GET AN ESTIMATE!”) to questioning my humanity (“Are you real?”) to hanging up and calling back several times before asking to speak to a “real human.”

While I admit that I have a professional-sounding voice and a theater background, my phone voice is not in the least over the top. I’ve worked in nine cities in five U.S. states, and this has never been an issue before (which makes me think this is due to the increased use of AI). But how do I handle it?

When people assume I’m AI and address me as such, I generally try not to sound offended and then say something (a little joke or phrase) that makes them realize I’m not AI. I also have several amusing responses to “Are you real?” that clients seem to enjoy. But the last situation drives me a bit nuts, mostly because customers are fairly angry by the time they finally realize that I am flesh and blood.

A few people have even scolded me, suggesting that I explicitly state that I am human, but this seems strange because, legally in our area (and maybe everywhere), AI is required to identify itself.

Do you have any tips for how to handle this? It got better when I caught a cold, but I don’t want to be permanently phlegm-filled. Even when I tone it way down (to a point that would sound unprofessional in my former job), I still encounter this. Other than eating, swearing, coughing/sneezing, or loudly chewing gum (none of which I would ever intentionally do), how do I make people recognize that I am human? Do I really need to say it? And why is this happening now?

It’s happening now because there’s been an explosion in companies using AI for frontline customer service and people are irritated by it because it so often sucks. They’ve had frustrating experiences with AI customer service previously, so they’re primed to be irritated when they think they’ve encountered it again.

That’s no excuse for people being rude, particularly right off the bat when you haven’t given them any reason to think they’re dealing with AI. But that’s why it’s happening.

Could this be an opportunity to put your theater training to use? Can you experiment in using “tells” that very quickly identify you as obviously human? I’m not sure what would work best — and it would be weird to, for example, fake a southern accent or something else that might read differently than standard AI talk — but a cough, a word stumble, a different intonation … who knows? It might be an interesting challenge to A/B test it and see if you can figure out what works!

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