The advent of any groundbreaking digital tech has typically been controversial, and AI definitely has been one of the most contentious. It’s not just that people are misusing artificial intelligence; it’s also the fact that it often is wrong or incorrect, just as one Texas business owner comically discovered when interacting with a customer. He left a voicemail for the customer, which was auto-transcribed by Siri after being sent. The first words were “You’re an idiot.”
“Siri must want me to lose business,” the businessman chuckled, posting a screenshot of what Siri thought he said to the customer on r/mildlyinfuriating. The rest of the message read pretty normally, with only the opening sentence calling the customer an idiot. Fortunately, they immediately caught on that Siri’s transcription was incorrect and messaged the owner.
“He called me laughing and said I would get a kick of what his phone told him I said,” the owner recalled. That said, AI transcription can do a decent job most of the time, but sometimes it can fail miserably. One Redditor gave a perfect example, commenting with a screenshot of their own: a state senator saying they would “kill all inviting” everyone to their upcoming event at the town hall. A second commenter shared another, with Walgreens telling them to hilariously “Shut Up,” followed by a greeting.
AI Transcription Mistakes Can Become Serious for Medical Records
Dozens of others in the comment section shared their experiences with Siri making some pretty wild errors in voicemail messages and phone notifications. While these sorts of mistakes are funny, serious miscommunication definitely could happen with AI transcription mistakes. For instance, another Redditor posted on r/SSDI that “AI transcription services can lead to inaccuracies in your medical record,” encouraging people to always double-check their doctor’s notes. “I firmly believe AI generated medical records are going to kill people,” remarked a commenter.
While AI being the death of a patient is a rather extreme prediction, one Michigan teacher recently experienced their bill being doubled, which many presumed was an AI’s error in processing their hospital’s medical billing. In the end, though, this is all why it’s important to recognize that AI is still under heavy development; even now, transcriptions should not be expected to be perfect. People using AI should always be ready to do their due diligence and make sure whether something is accurate, just as the customer did with the Texas business owner over Siri’s weirdly transcribed voicemail.
