Punchline: an customer got rickrolled by an AI.
So what actually happened?
Lindy.AI is an AI company that creates AI tools, including tools for customer support, HR, recruiting and sales. The story goes that CEO Flo Crivello was reviewing the output from their AI when a new customer asked for a video tutorial on how to use their product. The AI sent the customer a video. The only issue: Lindy.AI does not have a video tutorial. The video was a link to “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
At it’s core, ChatGPT (which powers Lindy.AI) is a predictive text model. It predicts what comes next based on what came before using the data the AI has been trained on. If your AI has been trained on the internet and you prompt it for a video, the prediction can come back with “Never Gonna Give you Up”, thanks to the rickrolling phenomenon.
Hence the customer got rickrolled. By AI.
For the seven of you reading this and aren’t familiar, “rickrolling” refers to a bait-and-switch internet joke where a link unexpectedly sends a user to a clip of hit 1987 song “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. It first started in 2007, became increasingly popular in 2008, and continues to this day. That music video has some 1.5 billion views. Much like everything on the internet, rickrolling has never fully died.
Broader Implications
This all raises intriguing questions about the role of humor and personality in AI. As companies increasingly employ AI, the line between helpfulness and entertainment becomes blurrier. Customers might appreciate the light-hearted humor take it in stride, but they may also be vexed by humor while addressing stressful situations. The balance between making interactions more engaging and efficiency is delicate. One that internet meme culture does not understand.
This also highlights the unpredictable nature of AI behavior, which can be temperamental at best. Further introducing human elements like humor and creativity can make AI even more unpredictable. While the intention was likely benign, it underscores the importance of rigorous testing and monitoring of AI systems to ensure they meet customer expectations and service standards.
It has been suggested this was a bit of viral marketing by Lindy.AI to generate interest in their product. In which case, kudos to them because it certainly has been making the rounds, this article included.
AI is here for now, and is finding a variety of uses in business. It seemed only a matter of time before internet meme culture seeped into AI. Like any new technology, it will take time to work out the kinks and for society to determine the best way to use it. In the meantime, users of AI should continue to use it with caution.
And hopefully Lindy.AI has realized the deficiency pointed out by the joke and since created a video tutorial.