Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: From helpful bots to holes in apples

Her voice was reassuring and gentle, with a slight Shropshire accent, as she guided me through the procedure. I was sure I recognised her from the last time I rang. But I know now that I was mistaken. I was ringing the doctor’s surgery for a routine appointment, and I was not speaking to a person. I was speaking to a robot working with AI.

The same thing happened when I went online to see where my parcel was. It should have arrived yesterday, but I had a message to say there was a problem and it had been returned to the sender. I went on their website to see what I should do. I could not see any guidance, so I went on a chat box and spoke to Andy.

He was surely a ‘bot’, but answered each of my questions precisely.

‘My parcel has not arrived.’

‘We are sorry about this.’

‘Can I have my money back?’

‘We can arrange that.’

And so it went on, a simple question and a simple answer, ending in a confirmation email that my refund would be with me in five to seven business days. No human was involved, but everything was dealt with perfectly.

AI is everywhere, even when we do not know it, but I went to see my friend at the weekend and there was not a robot in sight.

She had been up to Yorkshire and had come back with a bag of apples for which she had paid £4 at a stately home she had visited. They were on to a good thing, really, because although the apples were not windfalls, they were far from perfect.

They were all shapes and sizes, reflecting our scorching summer, and some had little holes in. But my friend was delighted as she sat there with me at her kitchen table, peeling, slicing and cutting. She was going to make puree, jelly and pies. Something to look forward to in the autumn and winter.

A lot of people my age are looking forward to their holidays in the autumn. These months are becoming very popular as it is cheaper and quieter, with the children back at school.

Mind you, I have heard that some families take their children out of school so that they can enjoy the advantage of a cheaper autumn holiday. They will have to pay a fine and the children miss lessons, so perhaps it is not worth it.

It was worth it to be on the side of the winning team at the pub quiz, but we were not taking part. We were having a meal in the other room and we answered so well you would think we were robots.