Digital Assistant-Google duplex

Introduction

A digital assistant is a program capable of responding to textual commands or voice orders given

by an individual. It is an AI powered software-based agent which can assist humans in

performing day to day activities such as scheduling appointments, making calls, typing messages

and operating other smart devices. Digital assistants are advanced form of chatbots and are

capable of responding to complex questions requiring multiples source of information. They use

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language understanding and processing to assist

the human user. We use digital assistants like Siri and Google voice assistant on our

smartphones, Cortana on windows computers and Alexa, Google home on smart speakers.

Google duplex is an advanced digital assistant which debuted on May 2018. It is a voice assistant

system that works on artificial intelligence to accomplish real world tasks over the phone. It is an

Artificial intelligence system which can replicate human intelligence by understanding and

responding to voice conversations over the phone. Unlike other voice assistants which sound

robotic, google duplex uses a natural-sounding human voice. On top of that the system can

understand complex sentences, fast questions and long remarks. The system makes use of both

machine learning and AI to conduct voice calls in the most human-like nature.

Google showcased the assistant at the annual developer Conference-Google I/O 2018. The CEO

of Google Mr. Sundar Pichai demonstrated the voice assistant system by calling a restaurant and

a salon for reservation. Duplex went into action by calling the restaurant on behalf of the user,

reserved the tables and notified the user of the reservation. This demonstration was interesting
and spooky at the same time as the other parties receiving the call were not aware that they were

actually responding to a robot.

Google started rolling out the service to a select few US cities from November of 2018. As of

2019, It is available in 48 US states. Google is taking a steady approach towards expanding this

system that is why it is still in the developmental stage. This system was recently expanded to

New Zealand as a pilot project. Google Duplex would call local businesses in the country and

would confirm working hours and holidays to help update them in the google maps for the ease

of the consumers. It would not only help businesses update their operating hours but would also

bring in more consumers.

Is there a difference between google voice assistant and google duplex?

We can classify AI as narrow AI and strong AI. The stronger the AI, the more human like

abilities it possesses. That is why Google duplex can be considered a stronger AI than google

voice assistant in that it is able to understand complex sentences, long pauses and can respond in

the most human like manner.

Selection of the topic

Voice assistants have become a part of our daily lives. Many devices from smartphones to cars,

computers to smart home speakers use voice assistant features to make our lives easier.

It is interesting to see how far humans can push AI.

Is Google Duplex ethical?

Google duplex can understand complex sentences and long pauses. It can even generate human

sounding vocal ques such as ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ when responding to the other human recipient. It

communicates like a real person for which the other party might not know that they are actually

talking to a robot. The experience is so life like that it is even scary to some extent. This has

raised some ethical questions.

During its early rollout, Google duplex would call on behalf of its user and the other receiving

party would not be able to know if they were responding to a real person or not. This had opened

the room for misuse of the technology for other inappropriate intentions for which many people

complained. Some users could direct the assistant to perform a phone call for his benefit which

was not morally appropriate. This was related to AI ethics and became a hot topic on the internet

because it was able to deceive people. To address this ethical issue, google has recently built in

disclosures to tell receivers that they were talking to a robot.

Also, the rationale behind Duplex sounding so much humanlike is still not clear, because a

natural sounding voice assistant does not necessarily mean a better experience. It has recently

been found out that 25% of calls placed through Duplex are actually carried out by humans. On

top of that 15% of the duplex calls are being intervened by human receivers who act as a backup

for fail proof.

So, is Duplex a mere data gathering tool?

As said above, we are still not clear about the intentions behind the development of google

duplex. Its functions such as reservations can be easily done by humans through a telephone and

online reservations are more familiar and user friendly. In this perspective, Duplex just has a
cool factor that can be fun at times. As such, it simply stands as a data gathering tool and nothing

else.

Applications

Google duplex is in its early developmental stage and can currently work only in closed domains

which require deep training. As of now it is being used to make dinner reservations and plan

meetings. However, with further developments ahead, it could be used by businesses as a help

desk which could save them fortunes. Some possible applications of this system are:

 Phone call Automation

if your client’s business serves customers that are multi-lingual, future evolutions in

Duplex may allow customers to interact with Google Assistant in their native

language, and adapt the autonomous call to your client in their primary language.

This would greatly eliminate friction in the customer service experience, and

improve efficiency for clients and their teams.

 Reorganization of call centers

 Quick reply: Google Duplex can automate call centers such as a help desk. It can replace

the human receivers and eliminate long holds and delays.

override Accessibility and language barriers

Current state: Google duplex

The New York Times tested Duplex in cooperation with a couple of restaurants and Google

itself. The journalists worked on their study for a few days and placed more than a dozen

bookings. Of these, only four were successful, and three of these weren't conducted by the

Duplex AI but an employee. Still, the New York Times managed to record that one automated

call (you can check it out in the article), and it sounds eerie. If the caller didn't announce himself

as a robot, I wouldn't have been able to tell the voice apart from a real one.

In the article, the magazine also makes clear that all of Google's calls are supervised by

employees and that they can overtake the conversation anytime they deem it necessary – just as

Google has said from the beginning. Thus, the service is still in active development and not the

automated service the company advertised it as.

Link: https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/05/23/25-percent-of-google-duplex-calls-are-

actually-conducted-by-humans/

Google confirmed to the New York Times that about 25 percent of calls made by Duplex begin

with a human, and about 15 percent of calls that begin with AI have human intervention at some

point during the call. That would suggest that just over 60 percent of calls made by Duplex are

completely automated.