New report suggests Google might have faked its AI demo call

Google’s new feature where Google Assistant was making actual phone calls for users got a lot of attention and praise. However, new theory suggests that it might just be fake.

Few days ago at its Google I/O annual developer conference, Google demoed a new Google Assistant feature that it called ‘Google Duplex’. The feature was to handle actual phone calls on user’s behalf, making life simpler for them. But, new reports now suggest that this all must have been faked.

In the demo, the AI made phone calls to hair salon and a restaurant to make reservations for ‘clients’ without the other person knowing that they were talking to a machine. Axios pointed out few points that just didn’t line up with how things are actually done in real life.

Updated Google Assistant can make phone calls to tackle real world tasks

Axios firstly point outs that the person on the other end neither identifies themselves nor the business by name. Secondly, the receptionist only asks AI for a first name and not for a phone number or any other contact information to complete the booking. Thirdly, there were no background noises of any chatting customers or whirring hair dryers heard.

This entire scenario of Google Duplex demonstrating fake AI has made many people to be vocal about it, Futurism wrote. One user on the social media micro-blogging site Twitter wrote that it was ‘horrifying’.

Google Assistant making calls pretending to be human not only without disclosing that it's a bot, but adding "ummm" and "aaah" to deceive the human on the other end with the room cheering it... horrifying. Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing.

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 9, 2018

The news publication Axios even reached out to the tech giant, but a Google representative declined to comment, even though they pledged not to release it. They also asked if the demo was edited to remove the business’ name, but the spokesperson refused to comment. It might be possible that Google had an employee pose as a salon/restaurant worker, wrote Android Authority.