Hate phone calls? Google now wants to let AI take care of that for you too

Google’s got a brand new experimental AI feature that’s just started rolling out, and it could see AI take on one of modern life’s most annoying tasks. I am, of course, talking about phone calls — every millennial’s worst nightmare.

The feature is called “Ask for me” and according to Google it uses AI to call local businesses to ask for information about “prices and availability”.

So while it’s not going to be able to handle all phone calls for you, this may be able to limit the number of calls you have to make. Assuming that you need information that a business hasn’t made available on its website or Google maps page.

According to Rose Yao, Vice President of Product Management at Google, this feature is currently being tested with auto shops and nail salons.

Apparently it uses the same underlying tech as Duplex, the feature that allows Google AI to make restaurant reservations, and will inform businesses that they’re speaking to AI. Google will also allow them to opt-out of AI calls if they want to stop receiving them.

Places are limited, but Search users can opt-in to Google’s Search Labs to try and test Ask for Me. You just have to remember that this is an experimental feature, meaning things could (and likely will) go wrong at some point. There are also capacity limits in place, which means your AI-powered call may be placed on a waitlist before someone can deal with it.

Yao says that the underlying duplex technology has already “helped millions of businesses” keep customers up to date with new information. She says that this is particularly helpful when that information changes very quickly, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example.

The use case right here might be pretty niche since, in some cases, these calls could be solved by using Google Search. However, it could be the first stage in handing over more kinds of calls to AI, which I’m all for. It’s already great news that Google lets AI handle being on hold for you, but it would be fantastic to see other difficult calls taken care of as well.

Calling up the doctor to try and get a last minute appointment, paying bills, booking my car in for repairs or anything else that doesn’t necessarily involve an unscripted conversation with a human being.

We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out, though.

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