How AI Fits In Our Work
We use AI to answer the phone, take notes, and handle scheduling. We do not use AI to fix your computer. Here is where the line is.
The short version
When you call 808-647-2304, an AI assistant picks up. It is a real voice, trained on who we are and what we do. Its job is to:
- Listen to your problem
- Ask clarifying questions
- Capture your name, phone, and the machine or issue
- Check Ben’s calendar for next availability
- Text you a confirmation
It is not a chatbot reading from a script. It can search the web mid-call, pull reference information, look up pricing, and schedule you into real time slots.
It is also not the person fixing your computer. That is still Ben. Every repair, install, and onsite visit is done by a human.
Why we do it this way
Ben is one person. On a typical Tuesday he is under someone’s kitchen table untangling a printer-to-router handoff. He cannot answer the phone from there without walking away from your neighbor’s actual problem.
The old options were:
- Voicemail — you leave a message, he calls you back in three hours, you are in a meeting, the cycle repeats.
- Generic answering service — a stranger reads a script, gets your facts half-right, books you on the wrong day.
- An AI assistant who actually knows the business — answers immediately, gets the facts right, respects your time.
We picked option three because it respects your time and ours.
What the AI will never do
- Diagnose your computer over the phone. If you ask “what is wrong with my machine,” the AI will say it does not know and schedule a visit.
- Charge your card. Invoicing is always done by Ben, after the work is done, after you have agreed to the number.
- Lie to you about being human. If you ask “am I talking to a person,” it tells you the truth.
- Record anything for advertising. Hawaii is a one-party consent state, so the call is recorded for quality and note-taking — then deleted after we’ve extracted the notes. The recording does not leave our servers.
Where the AI helps mid-job
Occasionally during a house call, Ben will say out loud: “AVA, what model year is the ASUS RT-AX88U?” and the AI looks it up and texts the spec sheet. Or “AVA, find me a picture of a typical NEMA 5-15P plug” so he can show an 82-year-old client what to look for behind the TV stand.
That is not a gimmick. It is a field technician using a tool the way you would use a flashlight.
Your data
The AI is our own system, running on our own servers on Kauaʻi. It is not ChatGPT. It is not Alexa. It does not sell your data, because there is nobody to sell it to.
When a call ends, the recording is transcribed, the transcript stays in an encrypted database for 90 days for our reference, then it is deleted. The notes — name, phone, the issue, what we did, invoice — stay forever because we need them to do the job.
If you would rather not talk to an AI
Press 0 during the greeting and you will be routed to voicemail that goes directly to Ben’s phone. Or text 808-647-2304 — a human reads every text.
The bottom line
AI picks up the phone. A human fixes your computer. The line is the same line it has always been at MCT: technology should serve people, not replace them.