Automated customer support that forces you to upload a photo of your order when you contact them about missing food has got to be among the most asinine and infuriating things that the first world has ever created.

"We require this in order to assist you" but why?? Wtf is the photo gonna show you? Worst case scenario if I wanted to lie to you I'd just not include the stuff I was trying to claim I didn't receive, right??

Rant over.

#CustomerService #UX #AutomationFail

So, for a mere $20,000, you can finally get that home robot! The catch? It might still need a remote human operator to do its chores. Sounds like a very expensive remote control to me. Are we paying for robots to be better at asking for help than actually helping?

https://www.cnet.com/tech/considering-buying-a-20k-home-robot-theres-something-you-need-to-know-first/#ftag=CAD590a51e

#Robotics #AI #TechNews #AutomationFail #FutureTech

If You're Looking to Buy a $20K Home Robot, There's Something You Should See

This robot is designed to do your chores, but it might need help from a remote human operator.

CNET
#aidecisions #automationfail 'Like thousands of others who have received these letters in the past four weeks, Sally said she could not believe that as a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen, she had been forced to prove a negative – that she was not a fraudster – simply because the Home Office did not have full records.'
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/31/woman-flight-italy-did-not-board-child-benefits-stopped
Woman turned away from UK-Italy flight due to ill child has benefit stopped

Family denied entry at gate after one of their children had epileptic seizure – but HMRC said she took a one-way trip

The Guardian

Klarna: “We replaced humans with AI!” Also Klarna: “Please come back.”

#Klarna #AI #AutomationFail #TechJobs #HumanLabor #InternetIsCrack

Really enjoyed that 1AM notification that an order I got 12 hours earlier had arrived. #automationfail

Spot the pattern?:

10 Modern ‘Mechanical Turks’: When Automation Is Just Humans in Disguise

https://gizmodo.com/modern-mechanical-turks-automation-humans-in-disguise-1851382957

#AI #automationFail #Amazon #VirtualAssistants

10 Modern ‘Mechanical Turks’: When Automation Is Just Humans in Disguise

Several modern feats of automation have proven to be little more than humans in disguise.

Gizmodo

Due to your involvement in the field and the research you published in your paper, "Improving the Privacy of Tor Onion Services," IntechOpen invites you to contribute a chapter to "Root Vegetables - Nutrition, Breeding, Soil Basics, and Pathology Insights," an Open Access book edited by <someone who seems like a real person> from <a technical university in Spain>.

#AutomationFail #SketchyPublisherTricks #Tor

As some of you know, my spouse is an academic who studies privacy enhancing technologies. He studies a bunch of types of systems, but he's done a lot of work on Tor.

Yesterday, he got an email from an Elsevier journal soliciting a paper review. It was a geology journal that referenced his work on tors. Hilarity ensued. He replied, but has not yet heard back from them.

Today was even better:

#AutomationFail #SketchyPublisherTricks #Tor

I’m checking in at the doc’s office when my phone rings. It’s the office’s automated appointment reminder … just a bit late? #automationFail #irony #laughs
Guys find way to hack McDonald's self-service machine to get a free burger

"No payment required."