- Google has launched a new AI experiment that calls businesses for you
- It can find out prices and availability, then summarizes the info
- It’s limited to auto shops and nail salons for now
You might remember Duplex, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) tool that would call businesses and make reservations on your behalf using a highly realistic AI voice. Well, now the search giant is back with another very similar offering that gives a whole new meaning to the term “robocalling”.
This time, Google’s service is called Ask for Me. The idea is it can do the heavy lifting for you by directly calling businesses to get information on pricing, availability, and more based on what you want to find out.
Ask for Me is part of Google’s experimental Labs division. Google gives the example of searching for terms like “oil change” or “nail salons nearby,” and it seems like it’s limited to auto shops and nail salons for now. After you search, you can tell Ask for Me what you want to know about the company, then the AI will call the business and find out the information you’re after. When the call is finished, it’ll send you a summary of prices and availability.
According to Rose Yao, a Google product leader in San Francisco, “this is using the same underlying Duplex tech that’s used to make restaurant reservations via Search/Maps.” That suggests that Duplex and Ask for Me are essentially two sides of the same AI coin, with Duplex focusing on eateries and Ask for Me helping you get more info from local businesses.
How to use Ask for Me
The idea behind Ask for Me is that it saves you time by conducting the call while you do something else. Right now, it works on desktop and mobile. Note that you need to access it through the Chrome web browser and must be based in a country that works with Google Labs (this includes the United States but excludes Europe, for example).
To get started, head to the Ask for Me website and select the Join Waitlist button. Once you’ve been granted access, you can try searching for tasks or businesses (such as Google’s examples listed above).
When you do that, you’ll see a box titled Ask for Me on the page. Select the Get Started button, pick the service you need and choose Next, add a few more details and tell Google when you need the service, then enter your phone number or email address. Google says you should get a response within 30 minutes.
Yao added that Ask for Me discloses that its calls are made by an AI, and businesses can opt out if they wish. Still, it’s not clear how companies will react to receiving calls from an incredibly lifelike AI that’s almost indistinguishable from a human. Time will tell on that one.
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alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake)
