ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Recent college graduates are facing an unemployment rate of 5.6%, nearly two points higher than the general population. Many believe artificial intelligence is taking over entry-level jobs.
The UR juniors who started OrbitPhone
Two University of Rochester juniors decided to fight back by creating their own AI company. Stephen Lim and Walter McDonald founded OrbitPhone, which started as an artificial intelligence receptionist.
“Be able to carry on conversations with customers and then book appointments into their calendar,” McDonald said.
The system processes customer speech through a neural network that thinks of responses while people are talking. “When they finish there’s only about 200 milliseconds,” McDonald said. “So from our perspective — instantaneous — between when the customer finishes and when it gets a response back.”…