> Are these tasks really complex enough for people that they are itching to relegate the remaining scrap of required labor to a machine?
I think I sympathize with your feeling but I don't agree with the premise of the question. Do you have or have you ever had a human personal assistant or secretary?
An effective human personal assistant can feel like a gift from God. Suddenly a lot of the things that prevent you from concentrating on what you absolutely must focus on, especially if you have a busy life, are magically sorted out. The person knows what you need and knows when you need it and gets it for you; they understand what you ask for and guess what you forgot to ask for. Things you needed organized become organized while you work after giving minimal instructions. Life just gets so much better!
When I imagine that machines might be able to become good or effective personal assistants for everyone … If this stuff ever works well it will be a huge life upgrade for everyone. Imagine always having someone who can help you, ready to help you. My father would call the secretary pool to send someone to his office. My kids will probably just speak and powerful machines will show up to help.
I've never had a human personal assistant. I don't have a sufficiently "busy life", at least in the conventional sense. I appreciate that personal assistants can be useful for other people.
And I'm not knocking the idea of agents. I can certainly imagine other tasks ("research wedding planners", "organize my tax info", "find the best local doctor", "scrape all the bike accident info in all the towns in my county") where they could be a benefit.
It's the focus on these itty bitty consumer tasks I don't get. Even if I did have a personal assistant, I still can't imagine I'd ask them to make a reservation for me on OpenTable, or find tickets for me on Stubhub. I mean, these apps already kind of function like assistants, don't they?, even without any AI fanciness. All I do is tell them what I want and press a few buttons, and there's a precise interface for doing so that is tailored to the task in each case; the UX has been hyper-optimized over time by market forces to be fast and convenient to me so that they can take my money. Using them is hardly any slower than asking another person to do the task for me.
I think I sympathize with your feeling but I don't agree with the premise of the question. Do you have or have you ever had a human personal assistant or secretary?
An effective human personal assistant can feel like a gift from God. Suddenly a lot of the things that prevent you from concentrating on what you absolutely must focus on, especially if you have a busy life, are magically sorted out. The person knows what you need and knows when you need it and gets it for you; they understand what you ask for and guess what you forgot to ask for. Things you needed organized become organized while you work after giving minimal instructions. Life just gets so much better!
When I imagine that machines might be able to become good or effective personal assistants for everyone … If this stuff ever works well it will be a huge life upgrade for everyone. Imagine always having someone who can help you, ready to help you. My father would call the secretary pool to send someone to his office. My kids will probably just speak and powerful machines will show up to help.