Google prepping its phone-calling Duplex bot for a summer rollout
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — When Google first introduced its phone-calling digital concierge Duplex in May, some thought it sounded too human. Others worried that it would secretly record calls with people.
The search giant says it has been working to address these concerns.
For starters, Google says that the bot will identify itself as an automated assistant upfront and will disclose that it’s recording calls. Human operators will be standing by as backup should a call go off the rails.
As for Duplex’s tendency to use speech fillers like “ums” and “ahs,” Google notes that this technique improved the assistant’s ability to book appointments by interacting more naturally with humans on the other end of the line.
The search giant provided these and other details in a demonstration for reporters Tuesday ahead of the system’s gradual rollout this summer.
The company is taking great pains to assure that Duplex conforms to a set of principles around artificial intelligence it released earlier this month. Among them: only develop tools that are socially beneficial and that incorporate privacy by design.
“We’re not trying to trick people,” Scott Huffman, Google’s vice president of engineering for the Google Assistant, told reporters. To demonstrate the point, he played a recording of an early Duplex prototype in which a computerized, British-accented male voice tried to book a restaurant reservation for four, and filled an awkward silence with an off-kilter “Hello.”
“The system didn’t sound very good,” Huffman said. “People would hang up on it. They got uncomfortable with the conversation. The team began to iterate on, ‘How do we make it sound more natural?’ As they did that, with every step, we found that our success rate went up.”
Now, Duplex can successfully book hair appointments, make restaurant reservations or check holiday business hours — the only tasks it is programmed to complete — four out of five times without intervention by humans.
And it identifies itself in a few different ways. In one sample call, Duplex began, “Hi, I’m calling to make a reservation. I’m Google’s automated booking service, so I’ll record the call.” In another, it starts, “Hi I’m the Google Assistant, calling to make a reservation for a client. This automated call will be recorded.”
Businesses can opt out of accepting calls from Duplex online, although that means Duplex won’t update information on Google Maps after verifying information such as business hours. People who ask Duplex to place calls can limit what it shares with businesses — for instance, by keeping their email address private.
Duplex’s initial rollout will only cover questions about holiday and weekend hours in the coming weeks, and will be limited to a select group of testers and businesses. The ability to book restaurants or hair appointments will follow later this summer.
Google’s main focus is on small businesses that don’t accept online reservations through apps such as Open Table.