Google has recently designed a new technology called Duplex that can make human-sounding phone calls to book appointments, according to Phys Org. Right now, sixty percent of small businesses do not have an online booking system set-up. Now, Google’s AI system robot is so convincing that people think a human is actually calling to book an appointment.
The system actually understands the nuances of conversation by bringing together natural language understanding, deep learning and speech. The Google assistant can call a salon, ask to schedule an appointment, and have personable “ums” and “mmm-hmms” applied within the speech to make it sound more human-like.
This recording system does come with some ethical concerns if scanners get ahold of the robot’s recorded conversations with personal information. Google has said this is an early technology demo, and there are still progressions and areas to tweak.
“We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we’ll make sure the system is appropriately identified,” Google said in a statement, according to CNN Tech.
Eventually, Google hopes this can help hearing-impaired users or people who do not speak the native language to help book appointments. Currently, Google is focused on providing the right technology to make robots more personable.
“The system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like they would to another person, without having to adapt to a machine,” Google engineers wrote in a blog.