Google Duplex arriving on iPhones, besides Pixel phones

Google Duplex was initially available exclusively on the Google Pixel phones. Google Duplex expansion was set to cover users in 43 states in the US in the month of March.

Google Duplex arriving on iPhones and other Android devices, besides Pixel phones. Google Duplex arriving on iPhones is a voice assistant that sounds more like a human. Google Duplex arriving on iPhones, is an automated calling feature for Google Assistant that enables users of digital assistant to reserve tables at restaurants across 43 states in the US.

Google Duplex arriving on iPhones will be available for users having the Google Assistant installed. Android devices that run the 5.0 version or later can avail of the Google Duplex feature. Google Duplex could also be used on a Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

What do we know about Google Duplex arriving on iPhones? 

Google Duplex is a feature of Google Assistant which made its appearance at the Google I/O in May last year. Google Duplex has the voice of a human as opposed to a robotic voice. It could make calls to businesses on behalf of the user. The user would be able to make appointments or even book services without any need of speaking to any employees.

Google Duplex arriving on iPhones makes use of complex sentences, quick speech and long remarks. The voice assistant can make restaurant reservations, obtain information from businesses and also schedule appointments.

In order to use the Google Duplex, the user only has to ask the Google Assistant to perform tasks like reserving a table or scheduling appointments.

How does the Google Duplex arriving on iPhones and other Android devices work? 

Though the Google Duplex feature is currently limited to the Pixel line, it will be available in Google Assistant that runs on Android devices and iPhones. Currently, Google Duplex can be used to make reservations over the phone in 43 states of the US.

With the help of Google Assistant, the user can make a call to the selected restaurant and reserve a table. This is done by the Google Assistant that makes use of Google’s natural language research. The Assistant will confirm various details like the time, size of the party and type of service.Triggered by a command for booking a table for a certain number of people at a restaurant at a particular time, the Google Assistant will reply with the details and when the booking needs to be made and in whose name. Once the booking has been confirmed, the user receives a notification on their device. They will also receive an email and a calendar invite for the same.

Google Duplex arriving on iPhones helps the user to update its business listings during the holiday hours. It could update Google Maps with accurate information enabling those who use the search engine to obtain accurate results.

Many small businesses do not have the online booking system for the services they provide, but take appointments over the phone. The Google Duplex arriving on iPhones uses different voices as well as sounds like ‘umm’ and ‘ah’ making it sound more like a human than a robot.

The Google Duplex is free of charge, but if businesses do not want to receive automated calls, then you can change your settings in Google My Business.

Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real-World Tasks Over the Phone

Google Duplex: Making AI Conversationalists

The biggest challenge when it comes to machines, is to make them natural conversationalists. Right now we can tell the machine to do this or that but we can’t really have normal conversations with them, that is where Google Duplex comes in. Google Duplex not only understands normal human conversations but also understands the context in which a person is speaking and then replies accordingly. Currently conversation systems in place, sound stilted and struggle to understand the basics of the conversation.

Here is where Google Duplex enters in. The AI network is capable of making certain conversations over the phone such as making an appointment. The conversation is supposed to be natural and the person on the other end shouldn’t even know that they are basically talking to a robot. Google Duplex is centered around only certain areas so that each of these areas can be explored extensively enough to help Google Duplex learn the speech requirements.

Challenges in making Google Duplex sound realistic: 

The whole idea for Google Duplex is for the system to sound natural,which means understanding the nuances of conversation like understanding when to pause mid- sentence and understanding the context of the conversation while making the right intonations.

When people have conversations with each other they often speak in more complex sentences, omit words and use words such as “umm” and “uh” often in the sentence. The problems of natural conversation is compounded by the fact that when the conversation is made over the phone, then word errors and such become all the more common taking into account background noises.

How does Google Duplex solve these problems? 

Google Duplex is a recurrent neural network. Google has trained Google Duplex to the highest level of precision based on a bunch of conversation data. Based on this conversation data, Google Duplex uses Google automatic speech recognition tech, features from the audio, the parameters of the conversation and the history of the conversation to learn speech requirements.

As for sounding natural, Google used text to speech or TTS engine for short and a synthesis TTS engine to help with intonation in a natural conversation. Google has also incorporated speech disfluencies or the “umms”and “uhhs” in conversation to make Google Duplex more natural sounding. They have also used timed pauses, as if a person is gathering their thoughts, in the Google Duplex system. But to make these timed responses more natural they have to be placed in the right places in a conversation, for that Google Duplex uses low-confidence models to decide when a pause is required and when it is not.

In Conversation with Google Duplex: 

The entire Google Duplex system is capable of carrying out sophisticated conversations all on its own without any human intervention.

The Google Duplex system also comes with self- monitoring capabilities that allow it to know when the conversation is going out of its depth and then it lets a human operator take over.

The Google Duplex system goes through a series of training wherein a real life instructor guides the system in conversation and can correct the Google Duplex system too in real time.