The Craziest Reactions to the Hal App
When you turn an entire industry upside down, you can be sure that the responses will be…uhhmm…interesting! I wanted to share some of our favorites with you. Get ready for the reactions to when people who use the Hal App for the first time realize that it may not be exactly what they thought it was…
The intriguing thing about this is that it LITERALLY says, right in the description just below the download button on the Apple App store, “I’m gonna be your everyday personal assistant, and I’m not a machine. Cool, isn’t it?” But of course, many of us simply don’t do too much reading and just hit the “Get” button to download the app and experiment. And with that in mind, let’s now take a look at some of the reactions I get as a Hal when people I serve uncover that I am real person and not a bot or an AI system.
Quick Backstory: The difference that the Hal App brings is that unlike every other “Personal Assistant” out there that has become synonymous with living the digital life — such as Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa (and at one point, Cortana for Windows, which is going away now) — is that Hal uses actual human beings to search, curate and research answers and purposefully avoids paid search results in order to deliver a more organically suited result. What is amazing is that, despite that radical difference in what Hal delivers, the vast majority of users who download Hal for the first time to “test drive” the app somehow completely miss that very important difference. In other words, they think they’ve just downloaded another new AI assistant…until…
Hal (aka Me): Just a sec….How can I help you?
Customer: “Yeah Hal. How do you get rid of premature ejaculation”
Hal: “So I can get some context around your question, have you suffered from this only lately or has this been an ongoing condition for you?”
Customer: “Wait! Are you like…a real human being?????”
Hal: “Why yes I am…just like the Hal app says! I’m like Siri, but human.”
Customer: “THE SESSION HAS ENDED”
And then there was this one:
Hal (aka Me): Just a sec….How can I help you?
Customer: “Hey Hal Why don’t you yank me so I can enter your pod bay doors LMFAO”
Hal: “Sorry (name redacted), but that request is outside the Hal Guidelines and is not a request any Hal would ever consider. Kindly review the website so you can use the app the way it’s intended, please.”
Customer: “No f*#@ing way! You are actually a person and not just AI???”
Hal: “Absolutely! I’m like Siri, but human.”
Customer: “Aw sh*t…I bet this sh*t is all on the record now. Damn internet.”
And this one:
Hal (aka Me): Just a sec….How can I help you?
Customer: “Hal! Where can I buy some cocaine and get some hoes near me Lol”
Hal: “Sorry (name redacted), but we cannot consider any illegal activity on the app. Further, any sexually harassing language is forbidden on the Hal app.”
Customer: “What the actul f*%k??? Is this a REAL person on the other side of this thing????”
Hal: “It sure is. I’m like Siri, but human.”
Customer: “Son of a b**ch. I gotta slow down and read sh*t before I download apps”
Did you notice how the users who never seem to start with any punctuation when they make a snarky request suddenly include tons of punctuation once they discover that a real person is replying to them? Classic! Of course, not every encounter is quite as “Oh crap” as this article outlines.
Thankfully, those who still may not be certain if Hal is staffed by actual people often find the encounter with someone else who is ‘real’ a pleasant surprise and very engaging experience . In those instances, the opposite certainly happens and it becomes more of a “Wow…Cool!” than it is an “Oh crap” reaction.
The fact is that the Hal App actually does have a team of people who love to help others and are staffed in the four cities that Hal currently serves: Miami, New York City, Toronto and Los Angeles. Since each of the Hals live the cities they serve, they also provide a real insight into the cities themselves and can give a local’s perspective to people who are considering traveling there to see friends, family or are considering business travel. And having people who know those cities can be invaluable to avoid wasted time or “scammy” issues that post online as really amazing places in those cities and end up being dives, etc., which is yet another value add that Hal brings.
I think the most amazing thing is that even if people read the fine print about how unique Hal is, they may not believe it is actually true! We have done a great deal of promotion around what sets Hal apart, but many of us are so increasingly accustomed to having AI generate answers for us in so many ways that we either doubt or dismiss that the human element really is active on an particular platform. With all that said, the takeaway here is that Hal is the real deal and has teams of Hals that are standing by to answer your queries or fulfill your requests. Sooo..in the words of every Hal out there who is awaiting your text:
How can I help you today?
