So in New York City, Google calls a small meeting. It’s just a few Google leaders and journalists at a Manhattan Thai restaurant. The meeting may be small and private, but this meeting affects us all. Google Duplex conference: How will consumers react?
The Google Duplex is a new system you can use to make reservations. Maybe I shouldn’t say new because it’s still in the making. They’re telling people just enough to hopefully wet their appetite. First, they played an example of Google Duplex playing a joke by making a hair salon appointment. That joke got a few laughs, but it caught journalists’ attention. This is real.
The Google Duplex Conference also studied it’s language. It looked at the way it says phrases like ‘um’ and ‘mh-hm’. For example, a person makes a dinner reservation for a party of five. The AI could say, “um…five”. This could make the Google Duplex sound more human, which is a plus. Or, it could make it sound like it doesn’t know what it’s doing. Then there are legal loopholes. In some states, like here in Massachusetts, home to our computer service shop, there is a ‘two party consent’ law. Google records a voice and sends it to a data center, without consent. How will Google tackle this issue?
Here is another one: Will people or businesses be freaked out by Duplex? I think now. Because for years, whenever we talked to a customer service center, we often talk a robot first. So yes, we are prime and ready for Google Duplex. We don’t know when this will be ready for the public. But my guess would be sooner than later. The conference seemed to have gone fairly well. However, I fear this Duplex will widen the gap between human interactions, if it were not wide enough already. I also feel this will give more IT service AI more power over us. What do you think of this Google Duplex conference?