This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

At Google I/O 2022, CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled a demo of Google Banana that was both impressive and mildly creepy. The so-called "Google Duplex" system is capable of calling a concern and making an appointment for its "customer" (that'south y'all). While the feature is still in testing, Google has reportedly been fielding offers from businesses that want to put Duplex to piece of work in call centers. The next customer service rep yous speak to could be a machine. Welcome to your dystopian nightmare.

Duplex is the culmination of all Google'southward AI and machine learning prowess. It uses the Assistant platform to procedure and respond to man beings. The Duplex version of Assistant even sounds a little more human. Google added in mannerisms similar mid-judgement pauses and the word "umm." The demo went suspiciously well, and Duplex didn't fifty-fifty identify itself as a motorcar. In a more recent demo, Google showed how Assistant would innovate itself so as not to bear a makeshift Turing Exam on every call, as shown below. Despite fears that Google might have faked its demo, subsequent evaluations in-person take demonstrated that the technology exists.

Google says Duplex is intended as a consumer service that you will exist able to use to call businesses. A public (merely small) exam will begin this month with several companies and a express number of consumers. Later, Google hopes to use Duplex to practice things like call stores to get holiday hours and let you lot brand appointments with anyone. Businesses have reportedly expressed interest in turning that relationship on its head. They desire to equip telephone call centers with Duplex to triage customer calls.

The Information claims that at least one major call center operator has approached Google to talk about using Duplex. Google is only working on consumer applications so far, only it hasn't exactly said "no" to businesses.

Presumably, Duplex in a call center would withal identify itself as a machine. This would not exist an entirely new concept for call centers, either. You probably have to deal with a ridiculously stupid AI routing system on a regular basis. They don't even have to tell you they're machines because information technology'due south painfully obvious. Duplex might be good enough that you could be fooled, at least sometimes.

Call centers are reportedly interested in Duplex as a way to further reduce the number of human employees they need to keep around. A single man could be on-hand to take over for multiple instances of Duplex when the AI signals that it can't effigy out what a caller is after. If this happens, it'southward probably withal a few years in the future. Google still has to go Duplex prepare for the general public.