Customer service workers mistaken for robots must prove humanity through incompetence. You’re calling customer service frustrated with automated systems. A person answers. Calm voice. Well-spoken. Professional. You don’t believe they’re human. You start issuing voice commands trying to skip to real person. Make payment. Agent. The voice says hold on, no, hi, you’re speaking to Mary, I’m a human being, let’s have a conversation about this. You still don’t believe it. You test them. Spell this word. Answer this question. Prove you’re not AI. Workers call this being captured when customers refuse to accept their humanity and demand verification.

The confusion comes from robots getting too realistic. Chinese company Droid Up unveiled Moia with doll-like appearance preventing immediate visual confusion. But realistic nuances trick other senses. She maintains eye contact. Human gait. And human body temperature. Standing next to her, you unconsciously feel heat radiating from her body. Rest of your senses get fooled even while eyes see obvious robot. Industry response: well-spoken customer service workers now learning speech patterns to sound more real rather than human being. They deliberately perform worse to convince callers they’re people.

Bacardi bought Boston Dynamics robot dogs for Scottish whiskey warehouses. Dogs roam autonomously sniffing for ethanol leaks in aging barrels. Three years to turn whiskey into Scotch. Leaking casks lose all alcohol through evaporation. Robot dogs detect excessive ethanol preventing expensive losses. And LEGO released orange tuxedo cat by Canadian designer Chris McVeigh built for hacking. Mix black and orange sets to create custom calico cats.

Topics: customer service robot confusion, humanoid robot body temperature, proving human identity, robot dog ethanol detection, LEGO hackable sets

GUEST: Kris Abel | realkrisabel.com, @realkrisabel

Originally aired on2026-02-03