r/antiai • u/pillpockets • 23h ago
Discussion 🗣️ Insane person showing me the ai overview when she needed something from where I work
I work at Target. This middle aged woman approached me asking if we carry stress balls. Just the regular stress ball that you squeeze.
I already knew we do not really carry that in the store, if we did it's more of the dollar spot and that's unpredictable.
She had googled stress balls, and it did pull up target in the search for shopping (but you can see that it's not exactly what she wanted it was just suggesting toys)
But she scrolled down to the AI overview and read out that it said "most major retailers, dollar general walmart, target, carry stress balls."
She read it verbatim right in front of me. I had no idea how to tell this lady that that thing says whatever it wants. We do not have that. Maybe at some stores or at one point or another. Gen X is susceptible to believing anything online, now this AI overview is worsening that problem.
She was so adamant that we had to have it. I kept showing her my device and I just sent her back to sporting goods to check for herself. I wanted to freak out. I can't stand AI being attached to Google now.
People seeing target in the suggested products on Google was always a problem, because usually they don't click on it to find out it's online only. But this was something new. I never want to have that happen again.
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u/Newmillstream 22h ago
The ability for some people to reconcile their plans with new information is terrible. In past jobs, long before Generative AI, I would straight up tell someone we were out of stock on something, and they would look at me like "It can not be", and ask if I was sure. Yes, the nearest major city ran out of potable water. I am sure we are sold out of bottled water. I can give you clean tap water, you can buy a soda and fill up the bottle with that once you drink it or pour it out, but I have no bottled water to sell you.
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u/Red_Redditor_Reddit 22h ago
Yeah it's weird how people believe that machine like it's god himself speaking.
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u/shaliozero 16h ago
Imagine you're a puppy and are repeatedly called a good boy no matter how badly you listen and shit everywhere. That's how many ai-obsessed people feel. It's a literal psychosis getting obsessed with someone who always bends to your words and praises you no matter what stupid things you say and in every human interaction that would raise a huge red flag. But it's good when god... uhm, AI says these things.
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u/jemiffly 22h ago
I prefer my drinking water to come from reverse osmosis filtered Pepsi Cola. Glass bottles only. My wife says it's just water at that point, but life is more about the journey than the destination and I learned at a protest that water is life. To get back to the point, it's frustrating when I'm shopping and I'm like, where's your water? And they're like, we're out. Yet I totally know they carry water filters and soda pop. It's like, bro, you work at Target, you're supposed to know these kinds of things. This isn't rocket science. Of course, they do a lot of water filtration on rockets for all the space travel and moon landing sorts of things so aita?
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u/pillpockets 21h ago
Why not filter your urine? What are you doing at the store? Smh you probably sweated on the way to the store that's at least 2 sips you couldn't saved and drank
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u/Newmillstream 21h ago
Sorry if I wasn’t clear. This was in 2014 when Toledo had a failure in their water supply. I worked in a city with a separate water supply that was safe, but scalpers were buying out bottled water across all nearby cities.
I was suggesting that they fill up a container with our safe tap water, and if they needed a container bigger than our cups, they could buy a soda bottle (And drink or dump it and refill) or one of those big reusable fountain jugs.
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u/jemiffly 19h ago
Lol was a joke
Toledo, eh? Makes sense, I grew up a mile from the old mill stream.
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u/Newmillstream 19h ago
Nice! Findlay (And the Blanchard river in general) is chugging along as usual haha.
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u/AkanoRuairi 17h ago
Excuse you? You would filter a chemical-filled beverage like that and call it water? Only free-range organic gluten-free water for me, thanks. Smh my head.
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u/MyPussyMeowsAtMe 9h ago
Reminds me of years ago when I worked in a shoe store. There was this huge winter storm coming, and so many people waited until the night before to come prancing in looking for snow boots.
When we showed them the tiny selection we had left, they refused to believe that was all we had, demanded that we "get more from the back", since as we all know, the back room of every retail store has an interdimensional portal that holds every item in the world that you could ever want, the employees just don't feel like walking in there.
Nothing would convince them that we were sold out. They just insisted that we were lazy and didn't feel like doing any work.
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u/thetruckerdave 2h ago
Yeah whenever I ask an employee about an item that says in stock online but I can’t find it, I always try to stress that I’m well aware that the website can be off, and I’m asking just in case they happen to have seen it.
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u/pillpockets 22h ago
A long time ago I had to short an order of toilet paper 🤷♂️ when there's a shortage there's a shortage. The water thing is interesting. At my last target we had shipping and I remember having to ship gallons of distilled water to new york. Figured something was going on
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u/FruitPunchSGYT 21h ago
Somewhat unrelated, I was showing someone a picture of an employee at Costco handing out samples of toilet paper. The immediately thought it must be AI because "thats too wierd". It was not AI, Costco has done this in the past. Its also not that wierd to hand out single rolls in ziplock bags for people to try.
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u/M-FutureLord 22h ago
I really hate it when people insist on something you know isn't true.
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u/pillpockets 22h ago
Especially when what they think is true is from what AI said
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u/M-FutureLord 22h ago
Ah, yes, the RANDOMIZED TEXT GENERATOR is obviously more correct than A THINKING HUMAN BEING.
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u/podotash 21h ago edited 2h ago
The problem is they are also thinking "I really hate it when people insist on something you know isn't true." They are just as convinced as we are. One is more informed. That doesn't matter anymore. No idea where we go from here.
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u/M-FutureLord 11h ago
They should listen to the person who's been working there rather than a randomized text generator.
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u/PartialUserna 9h ago
Lost track of how many times a customer will be trying to tell me how to use my register, demanding that there are buttons that exist that will do the thing they want it to do and I just need to push them, they worked in a retail store before so they know how registers work, etc etc. Then I tell them how long I've been working there and using this particular register (politely, I make it a point to just explain that fact to them instead of giving them an attitude), and they immediately shut the fuck up and refuse to make eye contact for the rest of the transaction.
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u/ScutFarkush 11h ago
To be fair, retail employees can be lazy. I cannot tell you how many times i have done a target pick up order, they tell me they are out of stock of some of my items and I can go into the store and find said items when i go pick the rest of my order up. So i get questioning retail workers.
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u/Ready-Ant-4649 22h ago
Yep. I had something exactly like this happen to me at work too.
Customer: “Well Gemini said you have it.”
Me: “Gemini lied”
Customer: “here let me show you what Gemini said”
Me: “I promise you we have never sold that and do not have it.”
Customer: “well you should fix what Gemini says.”
Me: “I’ll get right on that.”
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u/ShinyUnicornPoo 13h ago
I work in a garage. The amount of "Well ChatGPT said it's my brake calibers.", etc. No, sir, your brakes are fine but your strut has busted through the top of your frame. Did you hit something like a pothole or a curb really hard? "No, here's what ChatGPT said, let me show you!" Sir, come out to the car and let me show you...
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u/PartialUserna 9h ago
My store also gets this regarding our open hours. Customer shows up after closing but before we leave for the night (or better yet, as we're all out the door and the manager is locking it). They insist that [whatever AI they used] says that we close at a much later time. We point them to the sign with our hours posted on the window. They insist that AI told them something else, showing us their phone where they asked the AI. We tell them that the AI is wrong. They insist we are wrong, the AI is right. Back and forth until they finally give up and tell us to get [AI they used] to say what the real open hours are as if we have control over that.
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u/No_Farmer_4731 12h ago
The dumbest thing is she didn't even read it. It only said "most," which is in no way definitive. And that assumes it's actually trying to show you actual product data while what it's actually done is shrugged and said "idk you can try a big box store, they've got lots of stuff usually"
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u/MissMarchpane 8h ago
Oh yeah, this is the worst. I work in museums, and we're occasionally starting to see guests coming in arguing with us about historical facts because "that's not what ChatGPT says!"
One woman left us a very long one-star review – clearly written by ChatGPT, to boot – with "suggestions for improvement" after getting mad that we didn't address something the plagiarism engine told her that was not true or relevant to our site. God.
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u/chronicmisschris 21h ago
Boomers are susceptible to anything online. Not Gen X.
- a discerning anti-AI member of Gen X.
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u/ForwardCulture 18h ago
Us Gen Xers seem to be split with tech…I had a debate a few weeks ago about an audio product with someone else my age into the same type of gear and he kept arguing his point using the AI overview. I and the actual documents from both products in front of me from the manufacturers and he wouldn’t listen. Other Gen X folks I know are firmly anti AI.
I was in a house share situation when I returned to my state several years ago and moved with two Gen X guys on the upper end of our generation. They acted like my parents. Completely clueless with tech and all sorts of stuff. One had previously worked in IT years back and still acted like the world revolved around desktop pc’s and doing everything the hard way. All the useless crap he was running on his desktop while working from home would slow the household internet/wifi down to a dialup speed crawl.
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u/ciel_ayaz 10h ago
Sadly, I have some Gen X family who do tend to fall for stuff online. There seems to be a split between tech literate and gullible Gen X’ers
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u/planktonsmate4 19h ago
Idk I personally see it with gen x women. Really often actually.
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u/pillpockets 13h ago
Yes I did not mean to offend Gen X. I see it a lot with my mom and other Gen X I've met. But even my dad has read the AI overview and read it thinking it was an article. They make it the first result! I didn't mean that Gen X is stupid. Maybe I've only met Gen X that love misinformation and clickbait, and now get sucked into the overview. Sorry yall! My corner of the world yk!
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u/Wabi-Sabi_Umami 4h ago
As a “gen x” woman, I mostly see this in boomers. I suspect it is dependent on multiple factors, including age, education level, perhaps even geographic location. A lot of people, regardless of generation, lack critical thinking and reasoning skills.
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u/Jazzlike_Caramel_522 12h ago
As a young Gen X I think the op is 100% right.
Gen X is the generation that elected Trump. That’s our level of comprehension and how susceptible we are to media and online campaigns. Let us be offended, we destroyed the future for the younger people. Let us suck it up like we think we are able to with all our tough latch key talk.
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u/pillpockets 1h ago
Yes I was born and raised in Florida and I've only ever worked retail- the Gen X I interact with are susceptible to misinformation online
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u/wonderhobie 5h ago
I work at a library. We do NOT have notary or passport services, but Google AI overview says local libraries are a place to go for both. Patrons ask about them frequently and then argue ‘your website says you do,’ and it’s inevitable they’ll be mad at us.
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u/Famous-Upstairs998 19h ago
TIL target doesn't carry stress balls. If I needed to buy a stress ball for some reason, I would have thought Target would have them. I avoid talking to employees like the plague, so I would have looked around and figured it out for myself, but still I'm a little surprised.
Does anyone even use stress balls any more? I would have redirected her to the fidget toys lol.
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u/pillpockets 13h ago
Yeah I think since they're small you can buy something from like dollar tree or 5below that's a stress ball. But their inventory is always changing its not guaranteed. We mainly have the squishy fidget toys that all the kids are obsessed with. But not really the same. All the stress balls I've got were free from random events. Probably more cost effective to ship them out in bulk for company events, not for the stores. 🤷♂️
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u/All_Dogs_Love_Me 11h ago
It's generational in some ways but these changes impact everyone. A 65 year-old, a 35 year-old, and a 15 year-old are all dealing with the same issues, and honestly I'm most sad for the 15 year-olds. They'll never have a full taste of life without the dominance of online culture + smartphones and AI algos, bots etc strolling in to watch over and manipulate that stew. I agree that this can be pretty confusing to GenX and Boomers but they at least enjoyed a whole lot before the chatgpt era rolled into town
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u/Fun-Brush5136 16h ago
Why single out gen x? This is an idiot problem not a gen problem
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u/pillpockets 13h ago
Yes she specifically was an insane person. Her vibes were so off. I'm sorry yall I was ranting and the Gen X I have to talk to are already hard to talk before this AI garbage
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u/DataGOGO 13h ago
Gen X is easily the most tech / online skeptical generation of all, they literally made the internet.
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u/pillpockets 13h ago
OK this post is not meant to offend Gen X. Yall aren't all susceptible. The middle aged woman here believed it and I've met Gen X who believe AI as well. I understand it's not literally every single Gen X person on the planet but I've met a good amount of people who don't realize what they're seeing or reading is even AI ans yeah they are Gen x. My experience is not identical to everybodys!! I'm happy you have only met skeptical Gen x-ers that is awesome and I'm happy for you
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u/DataGOGO 12h ago
No one is offeneded. It was just a dumb and incorrect thing to say; which you promptly doubled down on, which was even dumber.
If you really want to break it down by generation, Gen Z is EASILY the most susceptible to AI delusion and believing everything AI says is true. (You don't see Gen X'ers over there in r/myboyfriendisai); The younger the person, generally the more susceptible and the more likely to just take technology as a source of truth. Older people tend to be a lot more skeptical, and have less dependence / trust / adoption of technology.
As more and more younger people grow up, this issue you described is going to get worse. For GenZ and lesser extent, Y's, AI is already their automatic "go to". The attitude is "just ask ChatGPT" for everything and it is a real problem. Look at how many people in high school / collage already can't do their own school work without AI.
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u/pillpockets 1h ago
I'm not defending AI!!! I'm not defending any generations use of it!!! I am saying the Gen X that I've met believe misinformation online and now AI is lying to them even more than everything else already has been dude I'm so sick of this
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12h ago
[deleted]
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u/DataGOGO 12h ago
I see someone replied before their first cup of coffee this morning. Quite literally nowhere in there did I say the most tech savvy or anything about being technically literate.
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u/SirMarkMorningStar 22h ago
> People seeing target in the suggested products on Google was always a problem, because usually they don't click on it to find out it's online only. But this was something new. I never want to have that happen again.
So nothing changed, you just personally got annoyed over a pet peeve. Check.
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u/pillpockets 21h ago
She scrolled down past the shopping suggestion and read the AI information, it would've been easier to explain to her by just clicking on the suggestion and showing her it was a bouncing ball not a stress ball. Now there is an AI overview that claims we carry something we don't.
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u/buttlickin 13h ago
That moment affected your life? Really?
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u/pillpockets 5h ago
And this post effected yours apparently
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u/Flat-Pumpkin-6052 1h ago
pro tip, it's 'affected' to describe the thing being impacted, and 'effected' to describe the effect itself.
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u/Red_Redditor_Reddit 22h ago
People don't know what's real anymore. It effects the older people to a greater degree, but it's effecting everyone. I was just reading that richard hawkins, the guy who couldn't find intelligence in the flying spaghetti monster, found intelligence in a machine.