Google opens Duplex AI for public testing: Report

Google Duplex was demonstrated this year at the I/O conference 2018 where the company showed off its human-like skills when it comes to interacting with real humans. It uses DeepMind's new WaveNet audio-generation technique and other advances in natural language processing to make it sound more humanlike.

The company has now announced that it is beginning public testing of the software. According to a report by CNET, Google says its plan is to start its public trial with a small group of "trusted testers" and businesses that have opted into receiving calls from Duplex. At the moment, Google will only call businesses to confirm business and holiday hours, such as open and closing hours.

The report further pointed out that the company had invited the press to Oren's Hummus Shop in Mountain View, California, a small Israeli restaurant two-and-a-half mile away from its corporate campus for a live demo of the project. However, the company did not allow the press to record the same. A similar event was held in New York as well.

After critics labeled Google's almost human-sounding voice AI Duplex as 'horrifying', the search giant has announced that the software will identify itself to humans before a conversation begins. Google has decided to add a built-in disclosure to the system with some sort of a verbal announcement to the human on the other end that they are in fact talking to an AI.

Additionally, Google Assistant will now reportedly alert users who are interacting with Duplex AI technology that their calls are being recorded. This will be applicable in certain jurisdictions where the states require consent from both parties for phone calls to be recorded.

AI is the hottest new trend in the industry and after Google soaked its hands early with Duplex, Microsoft is unlikely to be far behind. Microsoft's chatbot called XiaoIce, which was first announced in April, was recently demoed in a video that showcased its capabilities of talking like a real person over a phone call. The idea behind AI that talks is to aid in certain circumstances where a conversation between a real human and a machine is seamless. So far, the use cases demoed by Google include calling up the local salon to fix an appointment or booking a table at a restaurant.