Get Acquainted With The Google Assistant Companion Duplex Feature

JAKARTA - Google has finally launched the Google Duplex feature as a complement to the Google Assistant software system. This feature has been updated for a long time after being launched in 2018. The sound that comes out of the Duplex is very similar to the human voice.

Duplex works when Google Assistant users want to make reservations, make appointments and get information about restaurant operating hours. Google Duplex has been in testing since its May 2018 debut at the Google I / O developer conference.

The company eventually launched this new feature in 48 states of the United States (US) and expanded to the UK and other countries. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post that Google plans to start using Duplex "whenever possible" to contact restaurants to provide users with information on operating hours.

"In the coming days, we will allow businesses to easily mark themselves their restaurants temporarily closed using Google My Business," said Pichai, quoted by The Verge, Friday, April 10.

"We also use Duplex artificial intelligence technology which allows us to contact businesses to confirm their updated working hours, so we can accurately reflect them when people search on Search and Maps," he added.

Many people are surprised to see how Duplex sounds so alive - because it uses artificial intelligent (AI) technology - where some Duplex sounds use the affixes of the words "uh-huh" and "mmm". Apart from that, Duplex also has the ability to respond with correct answers to several questions.

Not only that, Google Duplex can also understand complex sentences, quick speech, and long comments. Then how does Google Duplex work?

When a user finds a business sector such as a restaurant and other places using Google Search, Maps, or Google Assistant, the user can ask the Google Assistant to contact the place and make reservations on his own behalf.

Google Assistant will also confirm specific details such as time choice, type of service and more. Once this information is complete, Google Assistant will try to make a reservation using an online booking partner - where available - or by calling the preferred business sector using Duplex's automated voice dialing technology.

Google says calls will be fully recorded for quality assurance. Duplex can call various business sectors in any US whose information is listed on Google. Google says businesses that have chosen to receive calls will get a call from Google Duplex to confirm operating hours, such as opening and closing times for the special Thanksgiving day, as well as to book a reservation.

However, businesses can choose not to receive calls or use this service by going to settings on their Google My Business account. Google has also expanded its Duplex service, from being available only on Pixel smartphones then to iOS devices and later on to being more widely available on Android devices.