Google's AI talks and has a human voice

On stage at the Google I/O event that is taking place, Google introduced a new ability of the Google Assistant virtual assistant that surprised many people: it is the integration of artificial intelligence, allowing this virtual assistant to make calls on behalf of users and the ability to communicate during calls is no less than a real person, including voice.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has replayed a recording of Google Assistant making a call to schedule an appointment for a user. Specifically, when the user wanted Google Assistant to help him schedule an appointment with a barber on the morning of the third day between 10 and 12 am, Google Assistant on Android made a call to the barber shop itself, spoke to the staff there to schedule the appointment for his owner. Google Assistant's voice and communication were so real that the barber shop staff did not know they were talking to a robot.

CEO Sundar Pichai said this is a real call recording made by Google Assistant and is not staged.

“The amazing thing is that Assistant can understand the nuances of conversation,” Sundar Pichai said. “We’ve been working on this technology for years. It’s called Google Duplex.”

Artificial intelligence can make calls on behalf of users, with a voice that sounds so human that it is difficult for listeners to recognize.

In particular, Pichai asserted that Duplex can react intelligently when conversations don't go as planned and new content arises.

Although Duplex's capabilities have surprised many people, Google's CEO said that Duplex is still in development and there is still a lot to do.

Google plans to test integrating Duplex into its Assistant virtual assistant from this summer to help automatically call to make restaurant reservations, schedule appointments at hair salons... for users.

“We’re still developing this technology and working hard to get it right,” Pichai added. “We really want it to work well in a variety of situations, like if you’re a busy parent and your child is sick, Duplex can help you make a call to schedule a doctor’s appointment.”

Google said that in tests, Duplex completed most phone calls without any human intervention. However, there were times when Duplex became overwhelmed with the content of the conversation and would try to back out or hand the call over to the user to continue on their own.

“Duplex has the ability to self-monitor, allowing it to recognize tasks that it cannot complete on its own (such as scheduling an appointment that has more complex issues), at which point Duplex will alert the user so they can continue the call themselves,” Google said.