this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2025
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Exactly how hell is the system going determine non and emergency calls. Didn't know when you call 911 you have to make choices. So is it like calling customer service?
I thought point 911 was I got a human immediately on the phone that can help me.
In an ideal world, if it's someone who immediately mentions that it's third time they've called this week about a neighbor having a dead tree in their garden, or someone's mad because someone else parked in "their" spot, someone's calling the fire department on someone having a bbq or someone's stubbed their toe, that sort of thing can get put way down the "call back later" list
Everything else gets put through to a person. In LA it's not unusual to wait 15+ minutes after you call 911; most cities are going to be shorter, and if the wait is under a minute, you don't need the AI triage. If you do have a wait and block out 25% of calls which are obviously a waste of time with AI, you can significantly reduce that (ideally in addition to hiring more operators, but let's be realistic...)
Either LA is fully broken and needs to be thrown away or you are lying. Leaning towards the latter. I've never not got a person right away ever.
It's not an emergency if it can wait 15 minutes. So the line just doesn't work for its intended purpose. That's extraordinary failure.
Just wait until you realize that extraordinary failure oozes into everything
Don't start your statement off like that. I get where you are coming from but we aren't like the next road over from ideal, we went off grid 17 turns ago. This shit will be used to cut staff. End of story. It will be used irresponsibly.
one of the most important factors with emergency services is that there is as little delay as possible. and that starts at the phone call. if everyone is delayed by this screening, and then they'll maybe get through to a person, it'll be much less likely that the person calling will be able to even just get assistance in time
Read the article.
The AI system will only reroute calls that it can determine are not emergency calls. The default will be to let the calls through to the human staff. It's not going to be some sort of primitive "press 1 if you are currently on fire" menu system.
Very few people call the police non-emergency line because few people even know it and everyone knows 911
Have many emergencies that aren't transferred does there have to be before it's unacceptable? I'd say if one person calls with an emergency, gets AI, and doesn't get transferred, then the entire system is failed and someone should go to jail.
What is wrong with the current setup? I bet a person can direct non emergency traffic faster than any AI, because they can actually comprehend a person and think. It's not broken, someone is just about to make a fuck load of money at the expense of people not getting through to emergency services.
Alright, let's go with that standard for purposes of argument.
If one person calls the emergency line with an emergency and doesn't get through because the human dispatchers are currently overwhelmed with non-emergency calls, does that mean the entire current system is failed and someone should go to jail?
We have the best 911 dispatchers in the world, because of jail
I don't think so, because currently there is no artificial delay. if someone has to be got rid of, that is the person(s) who are keeping the call center short staffed, whoever that is and whatever high up the chain they are
I would say there's a failure in the body responsible for hiring and paying people to answer emergency calls. The only reason there is a shortage is because they are under paying employees. So yes, but AI, like everywhere else it's been implemented, will fall short of what's needed and will ultimately cost more financially, with the exception that in this case, lives could also be lost.
There's without a doubt a problem, but AI isn't the solution.
Unless it literally is. Do you know that it won't be? What other example do you have to base your assertion on?
I'm not going to argue with you. AI blows. There are article out there about companies hiring people back after going to AI. It really is a snake oil product that corporations have gobbled up. It's got it's use cases as a tool, but not as a human replacement, especially in matters of live and death.
You can look up and research some articles of you want, or don't. Clearly your opinion on the matter is not popular, and that could be some hive mind, or it could be because everyone else sees the problems that you don't.
Putting a system in place that can't actually think at all and have it try and comprehend what is or is not an emergency, to me, is a terrible idea, and doomed to fail. Take that as you will, I won't be following up with anything else. You can have the final word if you want, because I just can't be bothered to care.
Damn. I get ice cold emotionless during an emergency, going straight to the point of reciting location and event when calling 911. Now I will have to also remember in the back of my mind to throw in a wavering voice and a couple of shrieks maybe to have my call routed properly. What a future.
The opposite is extremely common too. People get on the phone and instantly go into raw panic mode and yell about 500 words at you before you've even had a chance to read your greeting. After putting down some choice words to control them a bit, you find out they found a bag of weed in their teenager's bag or their neighbour's playing music too loud.
To make it worse, it'll quickly get figured out and people will be calling in "oh my God! he's trying to kill me", get transferred to a person and be like "so, it's 3pm in a Saturday and my neighbors are playing their music too loud!"
I have a hard time putting faith in their promise that it won't affect anyone poorly. They're just handwaving criticism away with statements that make this AI seem like magic with zero explanation of actual details.
Who makes this determination?
Again, did you read the article?
Or even the comment I wrote that you are responding to right now? I said the answer to this in the comment you're responding to.
Both, and no, your ~~quote~~ comment and the article conflict.
What does the article say, then? You know the answer, go ahead and correct me.
Right there in your quote it says the AI would only interact with nonemergency calls. You said the system would reroute nonemergency calls.
So when a call comes in to 911, who picks up? A person or an AI?
You said my comment conflicts with the article. In what way? What does the article say happens?