INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Duplex lets the Google assistant call businesses and interact with staff
It is using the responses to update company listings shown on Google Search and Google Maps
The Duplex AI assistant can be used by people in the US and New Zealand to make restaurant bookings and other reservations
But those features are not yet coming to the UK
businesses about opening times
The company confirmed to the TheIndianSubcontinent that it was being rolled out in the UK for the first time for that reason - but not for
consumers to make reservations yet
It is unclear how many UK businesses will receive calls from Duplex, or how many have already
News site VentureBeat was the first to spot that a Google support page had added a phone number to identify calls from Google Duplex in the
the ability to respond with the correct answers to some questions
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionWatch: Google's voice assistant in action Some questioned whether people on the
other end of the phone would be able to tell they were talking to an AI as opposed to a human.That raised ethical questions that pressured
Google to add a new feature: informing the person who answered the call that they were speaking with a robot
Now, at the start of a call with Duplex, the recipient is told the reason for the call and that the call is from Google
always come from a robot though
Last May, the New York Times reported that Google sometimes uses humans in call centres to make reservations
In normal times, Duplex can make bookings online via websites like OpenTable and Yelp
