A stunning new technology was introduced to the audience at Google I/O 2018, Google’s latest convention for developers. This technology, Google Duplex, adds new utilities and capabilities to the Google Assistant and allows it to make phone calls on the owner’s behalf that sound realistic and almost indistinguishable from a human conversation. Google Duplex’s calling capabilities are revolutionary.
The general consensus at the convention was that this technology is incredible. With the presentation of Duplex calling to make appointments and set up reservations, the crowd reacted in many ways. During the call with the hair salon, the original requested time was unavailable, so the technology had to agree on a different time on its own and while there was a bit of a language barrier, it managed to successfully make a reservation.
While this is a huge leap in technology from Google, it was not all they presented at the convention. They also showed that Google Duplex could carry on conversations even if it wasn’t prepared to, it could also use a human-sounding voice and add in realistic filler words like “uh” and “um” and use casual language like “OK” and “Mhm.” It could even handle disruptions and picked up where it left off before it was cut off.
This makes Google Assistant way more useful for users, but it also can help improve the web version of Google. This can be done by using Duplex to update store or business information, like calling to ask what time they are open on certain days and then updating it on their online Google presence.
While some people have voiced concerns over Google Duplex’s calling capabilities, others are excited about its implementation. What are your thoughts on it? Let us know below in the comments.