Google Duplex succeeds the Turing test

Alan Turing the father of Artificial intelligence created the Turing test in 1950 to detect if a conversation was done by a machine or human. During the Google I/O developer event, Sundar Pichai (CEO) presented an experiment called “Duplex” where Google Assistant can make phone calls on your behalf, booking restaurant or hair salon appointment – you don’t have to speak any more and it’s automatically booked in your agenda!

Why is Google Duplex an AI breakthrough?

Allowing people to converse with machines is a long-standing dream of human-computer interaction. Duplex enables Google Assistant to actually ring up businesses like a hair salon or a restaurant to make an appointment for you. You don’t have to call yourself even if the pizzeria doesn’t have an online reservation system. After the demo, the crowd was shocked, but the most impressive thing was that the person on the receiving end of the call didn’t seem to suspect they were talking to an AI. The Turing test is successful as the machine has not been detected during the conversation. It’s a huge technological achievement for Google, but it also opens up ethical and social challenges. Should the AI agent introduce itself as a robot at the beginning of the call?

How could Duplex transform and impact businesses?

So far Duplex is just a demo and not a Google Assistant feature yet. In case it would be rolled out soon, businesses should be prepared to receive an increasing number of AI agents calling for booking and reservations. It will become easier for customers to secure a booking as the process is automated. The down side will be an increase a of the “No show” or cancelation and potentially create a loss of business if a booking reminder system is not put in place. The Duplex solution could be used for spamming as well, so usage safe guard should be put in place by Google to avoid this.

How do you start planning a Voice First strategy?

Voice adoption will continue to increase at unprecedented speed thanks to killer app and innovation like “Duplex”. Due to the progress in Natural Language Processing (NLP) Virtual Assistants now understand complex query and context which was impossible just a couple years ago. Voice is now becoming a real channel to search, discover, sell and distribute your products or services. Voice should be part of your Omni channel sales strategy. Having the right content for voice search is also critical in the year to come as by 2020, 50% of all searches will be done via voice*. Contact the eBusiness Institute to help your business to be voice ready.

Sources:
* ComScore voice search prediction
https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/duplex-ai-system-for-natural-conversation.html