Google introduces a (somewhat creepy) use of A.I.
11During the Keynote address at I/O on Tuesday, Google showed off a thing called Google Duplex.
It’s… Well… You’re probably better off watching for yourself, as my description of it would not do justice.
I’m torn between the incredibleness of it and the thought that we’re closer to the enslavement of humanity.
Curious what people here think about it.
- 17 comments, 34 replies
- Comment
I think if I had to talk to customers on the phone often I would prefer talking to the google AI. I bet it has better manners.
If you don’t have time to watch a video, here’s an article about it:
https://www.wired.com/story/google-duplex-phone-calls-ai-future/
@PlacidPenguin
Thx.
@PlacidPenguin I don’t have time to watch a video or read an article, what now?
@Ignorant @PlacidPenguin
Ask Google assistant.
@Ignorant
Ask your local f00l to sum it up for you.
@Ignorant
And if you don’t have one of those, I’m sure we could find a suitable substitution.
@Ignorant @PlacidPenguin Likely the result would still be too many words
@Ignorant @Kidsandliz @PlacidPenguin -
"Duplex is new technology that enables Google’s machine intelligence–powered virtual assistant to conduct a natural conversation with a human over the phone, mimicking the chit-chattiness of human speech as it completes simple real-world tasks.
The … bots, dispatched through Google Assistant and activated through a back-end system… sounded human: They said “Um” and “Ohh, I gotcha” and ended query statements with the raised pitch of a question mark… they completed tasks… making a hair appointment or determining whether it would be better to just walk into a restaurant and take a gamble on a table.
For Google, Duplex marks the next big step in natural-sounding, fully-autonomous robot conversations. For the rest of us, it straddles a fine line between being enormously convenient and eerily deceptive. "
@Ignorant @PlacidPenguin Have Google do it for you.
@f00l @Ignorant @PlacidPenguin Google Assistant and I are not speaking. Mostly she’s just not listening. My experience with Google AI services to date lead me to suspect Google Duplex is more likely to use my credit card to hire a hit man to kill me than to actually prove a useful helpmate.
@moondrake
Why don’t you try changing Google Assistant’s voice to a male one?
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/09/googles-six-new-assistant-voices-now-live/
@PlacidPenguin Cool, I changed the voice to one I like better. Then I tried it out. I said “ok Google what time is it?” Google assistant crashed. Repeat, same result. I pushed the suggestion button asking “what’s the weather tomorrow?” It answered in my selected voice. Tried again to ask it what time it is. It put up text saying “answering on another device”, and responded with the time in the new selected voice on my Google home. Repeat, same result. This f****** thing just does not work. And this is why I do not want Google to invent a bunch of creepy strange new AI technology. I want them to fix the supposedly useful technology I’ve already bought from them.
@moondrake
Or it’s scared of you.
It works fine for me.
Though I (shockingly) don’t have a Google Home of any kind (mini, max, or regular) to try it out on.
In the year 2525.
@meh427 If man is still alive.
@lseeber @meh427 If woman can survive.
Oh good, yet another stilted Steve Jobs impression describing yet another gripping tendril extending out from under the giant’s sinister carapace.
@InnocuousFarmer
And Happy Morning To You!
All this just pops me into a most wonderful mood…
@f00l I had to retreat into coffee and old computer things… could really use more coffee, when it comes to it.
I probably need to find some philosophical approach to make it over the anger-bargaining-depression hurdle and get to acceptance…
Or else, collide into the hurdles, taking them to the ground where I can really fight them properly, resenting human nature and society forever. That seems to work for some people.
@InnocuousFarmer
/image sorry Dave I can’t do that right now
Enslavement.
Did you notice both voices are the same voice in the first call? Was that Google Duplex scheduling an appointment with itself?
OTOH, will it automatically schedule you for rehab if you need it? This could be a boon for the Hollywood types. And politicians.
@PocketBrain Rehab? I’m thinking scheduling their jail time might work well too - especially if you can schedule that without having to bother with a time consuming, expensive trial. That would be a really good time (and money) saver.
This is weird. I know a lot of people hate talking on the phone. Now there’s even less of a reason to.
@RiotDemon Or have your very own AI do it for you! Win!
@RiotDemon That would be me. I really don’t care for talking on the phone much.
It’s creepy… so creepy. But I do have a strong aversion to talking on the phone, so I would probably use it for making appointments. I would feel creepy doing it, though… I think?
@Pony
Do you feel that this is creepy?
@PlacidPenguin Creepy as a creeper that creeps creepily.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-10/google-grapples-with-horrifying-reaction-to-uncanny-ai-tech
We passed creepy a long time ago. It’s over. Tendrils everywhere. Privacy nowhere. Now I will simply make use of the creepiness.
I’m all for it. That Siri is a horrible date, and she doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.
@ruouttaurmind You just haven’t asked her “What does the fox say?”
@duodec @ruouttaurmind I can see where this thread is going LOL
@duodec Well now, you know I just had to do that…
@ruouttaurmind Apple has taken a lot of fun out of Siri with newer releases. Most of the older easter eggs no longer work. But you can also tell her “Tell me a joke”
@duodec
(Insert groan here)
@duodec @ruouttaurmind
I do not like puns or wordplay.
@PlacidPenguin That one was all Siri. It seems she’s quite fond of puns and wordplay, as that’s just about the only kind of joke she seems to recite.
@ruouttaurmind
I don’t want to judge her based on a first experience, but…
@PlacidPenguin @ruouttaurmind Don’t worry, she won’t snort when she laughs, or jog you with her elbow and say ‘eh? eh?’ when you don’t instantly laugh at her jokes.
@duodec @ruouttaurmind
But then I’d have to welcome an incomplete fruit into my life.
But what will I do at work if a robot handles all my petty needs…
@MrMark
Be replaced?
According to CNET, Google has said that Duplex will include a disclaimer that it’s not a human, although they (CNET) are unsure about all the details regarding the disclaimer.
https://www.cnet.com/news/google-says-its-designing-duplex-with-disclosure-built-in/
Interesting piece from Ars Technica, at a live demo this week of Duplex.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/06/google-duplex-is-calling-we-talk-to-the-revolutionary-but-limited-phone-ai/
Wow… I like it. If it actually works that seamlessly.
Vanity Fair is getting in on the conspiracy game:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/05/uh-did-google-fake-its-big-ai-demo
@PlacidPenguin Wow. “Voice-activated devices like Google Assistant can be hijacked by bad actors, as a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, recently demonstrated by using audio commands undetectable to the human ear—hidden in a YouTube video—to hijack Amazon’s Alexa and order it to make purchases.”
Embrace the horror!
Where do I sign up? I’d love ai to schedule for me… cause I tend to get nasty when they don’t listen to me… I’d love to hear that call to my dr office!