Imagine the banks were contracted to deliver school teaching…employing their digital assistants

Keith S. Taber

Hi, I'm Rubis, your intelligent science teaching system. I can help with all sorts of everyday science learning queries. Let me know how I can help you today, or try asking me a short, simple question, such as "what is the formula of water?" and I'll be able to help.

Rubis, why is mercury a liquid at room temperature?

I didn't quite catch that, but I'm learning all the time.

Here are some of the top things that I get asked.

What are the three states of matter?
Why are mushrooms not considered plants?
What comes between gamma rays and ultraviolet radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum?
Who invented gravity?
Who was Archimedes' principal?

Rubis, why is mercury a liquid at room temperature?

One moment please, I'm just typing. Please select an option:

The periodic table
The respiratory system
Electrical resistance
Acids
Food webs

I'm trying to find out why mercury is a liquid at room temperature?

Just to check, do you mean:

What is the difference between a moon and a comet?
How dangerous is ascorbic acid?
Why is love like oxygen? ¹
How can an acrobat balance on a trapezoid of forces?
When did retroviruses come back into vogue?
None of these

None of these

I can help with all sorts of everyday science learning queries. Try asking me a short, simple question, such as "what are the three ways in which heating occurs" and I'll be able to help.

…

Science teaching, of course, is a process that requires a well-prepared, highly knowledgeable, teacher who is sensitive to, and responsive to, individual learners whose moods and motivations shift from day to day and who may at any time ask a question that the teacher would never have predicted in advance. That's part of the joy (and challenge) of teaching, which when done well is an interactive process where the teacher has to make myriad real-time, 'on-line', decisions in response to a complex and ever changing context. That is, it requires a good deal of 'intelligence'.

Machine intelligence?

One (questionable) sign of 'progress' in our increasingly digital society is how getting access to costumer service usually involves perusing 'contact us' webpages that are designed to send you initially to fixed pages with answers to to 'FAQs' (frequently asked questions); only then offering 'chat' with an 'intelligent' assistant – which seems programmed to only pass you on to a human once it has recognised you have been sent round the same flow-chart loop more than once.

As I have pointed out before, this would be fine if these 'chat-bots' were actually intelligent (even in the limited sense of a learning machine).

(Read 'Cora and I: Living in two cultures')

My faux 'dialogue' above may seem an unfair parody. (Not a genuine dialogue of course as there was no meeting of minds and taking on board of the other's perspective.)

But if my bank (RBS) were to be given a contract to provide digital teaching services, I imagine it would be just like that. If they could do better, then surely their chat-bot for bank customers would be more useful and less frustrating.

The bank initiated the conversation…

My bank sent me an email suggesting that I would soon no longer be able to make on-line purchases with my debit card unless I used a mobile 'phone (which currently I do not, and am not planning to anytime soon). "As part of new regulations, we'll often ask you to confirm that it's really you who's making the purchase when you use your card to pay for something online. To do this, you'll need to enter a six-digit one-time passcode (OTP) that we'll send to your mobile phone." Of course the message also told me "Please do not reply to this email as the address is not monitored". Hm, so how do I get in touch…

Cora, the chat-bot, could make no sense of my inquiry.

Of course no chat-bot (or teacher) could be expected to always respond to any random enquiry. When I was teaching I would not have been able to instantly answer a question from outside my teaching subjects…

"Sir, in what year did Hannibal Lecter cross the Alps with Elephants?" ²

Here, however, I was not raising some obscure topic that the Bank could not have anticipated, as I was RESPONDING to a conversation initiated by the Bank!

Connected with Cora

Perhaps I am being unreasonable?

Hey there. I'm Cora, your digital assistant. Let me know how I can help you today, or select one of the top questions that I am being asked:

Please select an option:

Close an account
Change my details
Order paying in book
Cancel transaction

Cora – 12:00

I choose to let 'her' know how she can help me today:

I have just had an email from the bank, suggesting in future I will need a mobile phone to make online purchases. At the present time I have no need for nor intention of getting a mobile phone.

Keith

I didn't quite catch that, but I'm learning all the time.

Here are some of the top things that I get asked.

Please select an option:

Coronavirus support
Unknown transaction
Cancel transaction
Pending transaction
Change account details
Make a payment

More

Cora – 12:01

More

selected

One moment please, I'm just typing.

Please select an option:

Check a statement
Help logging in
Paying in a cheque
Struggling financially
Check account info
Refunds/Retail disputes
None of the above

Cora – 12:02

None of the above

selected

I can help with all sorts of everyday banking queries. Try asking me a short, simple question, such as "how do I order a new card?" and I'll be able to help.

Cora – 12:02

I have just had an email from the bank, suggesting in future I will need a mobile phone to make online purchases. At the present time I have no need for nor intention of getting a mobile phone. Please explain how I should proceed.

Keith

Please select an option:

Just to check, do you mean:

Benefit Insurance Claim
Manage receipts in app
Check my eligibility
Suspicious email
Remove an account holder
None of these

Cora – 12.03

Just to check?

None of these

selected

I didn't quite catch that, but I'm learning all the time.

Here are some of the top things that I get asked.

Please select an option:

Coronavirus support
Unknown transaction
Cancel transaction
Pending transaction
Change account details
Make a payment

more

Cora – 12.03

more

selected

Please select an option:

Check a statement
Help logging in
Paying in a cheque
Struggling financially
Check account info
Refunds/Retail disputes
None of the above

Cora -12.03

None of the above

Selected

I can help with all sorts of everyday banking queries. Try asking me a short, simple question, such as "how do I order a new card?" and I'll be able to help.

Cora – 12:03

So, basically, Cora can help me as long as I ask a question she has specifically prepared for. I may as well have asked her how come a metal like mercury could be a liquid at room temperature.

Just imagine teachers behaved like that!

Footnotes:

¹ apparently because if you get too much you will get too 'high', but if you do not get enough you will die

² This suggests a science joke:

What was the outcome when Hannibal crossed the alps with elephants?

I am not sure, but the offspring would have been infertile.