If you are like me, you are seeing tons of articles and blog posts on how great AI is. Most industry leaders cannot make a presentation or a speech without acknowledging AI. The media whips up everyone into a frenzy. Is AI good for us? Will AI take over the world? Is Google evil for wanting to make an intelligent virtual assistant sound human? It goes on.

It is human nature to want to make hay while the sun shines.

But are we really there yet? My experiences with chatbots have been anything but disappointing. I expect not much, and that is exactly what I get. Look at my most recent interaction with the AT&T virtual assistant:

“Virtual assistants understand simple questions best” – well said!

Something that gets me upset is not the lack of sophistication, but asking the customer to repeat something that is already comprehensible: “Please tell us your first name”

Do you see my name in the conversation?

I rest my case.