Google's human-sounding Duplex AI will soon be unleashed in the US

Google's human-sounding AI will start making calls to enquire about holiday hours, book appointments and make reservations in the coming weeks. However, the calls will be tested on a limited group of testers and only in the US.

At Google I/O 2018, the company shocked the world with a controversial phone call made by an AI that sounds eerily similar to a human being. Called Google Duplex, the technology makes Google’s voice assistant converse with a human, with the right amount of pauses and filler words, which makes it sound just like a real person.

Now that Google has given a set of select journalists a taste of Google Duplex in the US, it is confirmed that the Assistant does actually introduce itself and also alerts the receiver of the call that the conversation is being recorded.

Duplex will also work in tandem with human operators in case something goes wrong in a call. These operators will take over the call if it’s not going well.