Public Pressure Works; Google To Disclose People About The Robotic Phone Call

On Tuesday, Google introduced its newest tool – Duplex, at its I/O conference. Supported on the new Google Assistant smartphone, this feature has the capability to replace a human altogether and do all such telephonic tasks much like a robot does. Upon giving a demo, the robot sounded like a human and it became increasingly difficult for everyone to judge the authenticity of the one behind the receiver.

Ultimately, it gathered a lot of criticism from the general public. People were of the view that Duplex would be taking an undue advantage of talking to people without informing them. As a result, the public won’t be able to differentiate between a robot and a human. Eventually, this could potentially lead to controversy.

Subsequently, Google had to bow to the general pressure to appease them. Therefore, Google announced that it will now let people know they would be speaking to a robot on the phone call.

In a statement, Google said:

“We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex. As we’ve said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important”

The internet giant will be testing this technology in the summer. It is pertinent to mention that Duplex would be able to set up appointments at hair salons and restaurants on one’s behalf. During the conference, the robot sounded dead real as it had the capability of adding ‘ums’ and ‘ands’ into the conversation.