AI agents discover that appointments require an actual calendar
Zocdoc’s CEO argues that AI agents increase the value of verified booking infrastructure. The platform wants agents to use its connections to insurance networks and provider schedules so recommendations can become real, confirmed appointments.
The story
Zocdoc’s CEO argues that AI agents increase the value of verified booking infrastructure. The platform wants agents to use its connections to insurance networks and provider schedules so recommendations can become real, confirmed appointments.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
A chatbot can recommend a dermatologist without disturbing anybody. Securing a real appointment is less considerate: it involves a doctor, an insurance network and a calendar with other patients already in it. The future has discovered that Thursday is not an infinitely expandable resource.
Zocdoc’s pitch is that its existing infrastructure can check those details and complete the booking. This is a rather useful advantage over a beautifully phrased suggestion. An available sentence and an available appointment look equally tidy on a screen, right up to the moment someone arrives at reception.
The company is inviting AI agents to use the machinery underneath its marketplace. The interface can change; the awkward business of making the promise true remains. There is comfort in knowing that even an agent with an answer for everything must eventually check the diary.
