At Google I/O 2018, the company shocked the world with a controversial phone call made by an AI that sounds eerily similar to a human being. Called Google Duplex, the technology makes Google’s voice assistant converse with a human, with the right amount of pauses and filler words, which makes it sound just like a real person.
While all kinds of alarm bells went off on the internet about how Google Duplex calls could dupe people into thinking they were talking to a real person, we were the only ones who told you back then that Google would make the Assistant introduce itself as an AI and that this introduction will also take a more natural sounding approach rather than a robotic one.
Now that Google has given a set of select journalists a taste of Google Duplex in the US, it is confirmed that the Assistant does actually introduce itself and also alerts the receiver of the call that the conversation is being recorded.
If users do not wish to be recorded during Duplex calls, they will have an option to deny permission. The Verge reports that “Duplex can recognize that and end the call with something like OK I’ll call back on an unrecorded line”. Nick Fox, VP of Product and Design for the Google Assistant told the publication that an operator will call back if a user does not grant permission to record the call.
Duplex will also work in tandem with human operators in case something goes wrong in a call. These operators will take over the call if it’s not going well.
Google is readying Duplex for testing with a limited group of “trusted testers” in the coming weeks. The company announced that the rollout will be done in a phased manner and that Duplex calls will first start with making calls about opening and closing hours of a place, followed by restaurant reservations and lastly, haircut appointments. This is largely in line with what Scott Huffman, VP of Engineering at Google told us on the sidelines of Google I/O.