Artificial Intelligence is one thing. Breathing life into it, literally, is quite another. Yes. That’s Google Duplex for you. If you haven’t heard about it already, here’s a quick brief. It can hold a conversation, it understands, interacts, speaks and all this in a natural way like a human being does. Only, it’s a machine. It’s a concept. It’s a milestone of sorts in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Even though its ability to fool people at the other end of the conversation is raising ethical concerns, the concept is a leap into the future.
google-duplex: How AI gonna change our life
What is Google Duplex?
In simple words, Google Duplex is a system by Google Assistance that makes calls to anyone you want, on your behalf. It can set up an appointment, book a restaurant reservation for you and chat with the humans on the other hand, without your interference or need.
Google Duplex is a new technology that supports the new Google Assistant feature. It is an automated system with a human voice that doesn’t sound robotic but natural. The system, will basically, make your calls for you.
What’s the science behind it?
According to Google, more than 50 percent of small shops do not have a system in place to get customers’ automated replies or calls. They rely only on phones. Even when online bookings are becoming so common, many small businesses rely on telephonic conversations. The system is made to benefit those.
The entire system employs four different components to make it work— TensorFlow Extended (TFX) Machine Learning, Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text To Speech (TTS).
The entire concept uses TFX platform to create RNN with speech processing mechanism. The ASR hands this. And all that intonation control as per the situation is managed by TTS engines.
Google Duplex is trained in to book you a hair appointment and anything that can be done by a human. Training is supervised by a human operator. There is always someone overseeing that Duplex is reaching the perfection required.
How Does It Work?
Once you tell the “Assistant” about the exact details of the appointment and every pertinent detail, the system absorbs the information and calls the background business. Only once it has disclosed itself as a machine, and made sure that all the state laws are being adhered to, the machine will talk in a natural voice to the human.
What’s in it for you?
It is liberating for anyone who finds these mundane tasks a challenge. The details aren’t clear on how you can use it but the assistant will do anything for you from booking a reservation to talking to the restaurant manager on your behalf. The idea will not stop at booking the appointment, Google Assistant and Google Duplex will make the call to the restaurant, talk to the person on the other end, book your table, and even add it to your calendar.
When is the big launch?
The Duplex part of Google Assistant will be launched in the forthcoming weeks in its beta version. There are no details except, it should be available sometime this summer.
Well, critics call it ethically incorrect, but how it really affects the users is yet to be seen.