Google Duplex automatically calls restaurants to schedule appointments. The AI sounds so convincing that the other parties at the other end suspect a person – Duplex will therefore identify itself as a machine that Google promises.
Google’s AI sounds like a human
In the video clip it becomes clear that Duplex recognizes the statements of the interviewee in a context-dependent manner, fittingly answers – and sounds so believable that one would not even think that the other end was an artificial intelligence.
Google has screwed it precisely on the timing of the answers and sometimes pushes a “Uhmm” or a “Mhmm” in order to produce the most human language possible.
Duplex only works in tight contexts
In any case, the technology is not quite as far as the audio clips suggest. Duplex has been specially trained by Google for narrow tasks. In these contexts, the AI can confidently interact with people, sometimes hooking up with each other and dealing with ambiguity.
As Google writes in the blog entry for duplex, the AI can not talk freely – she needs a given by the situation rescue rope on which she can shimmy along.
Share this post if you liked!
