Google DUPLEX DEMO

2018

At its 2018 conference, Google stunned the world with Duplex, an AI assistant that made a phone call to book a haircut. With its shockingly human-like pauses, "ums," and "mm-hmms," this new AI tech seemed like a monumental breakthrough. The future is here!!

The reality, however, was less magical. It was later revealed that the calls were in fact not made by the AI magic. It was human operators in call centers.

By presenting a human-assisted service as a fully developed automated marvel, Google created a powerful illusion. The Duplex demo was not the first nor was it the last example of the “fake it until you make it” approach in the current AI Gold Rush.

Additional info:

Vanity Fair - Uh, Did Google Fake Its Big A.I. Demo?

Tech Crunch - Duplex shows Google failing at ethical and creative AI design