Human-sounding Google robot Duplex will identify itself as a robot when it calls

Employees finally got some answers this week on how Google's new Duplex human sounding robot will work. It will identify itself at the beginning of the conversation as a Google assistant robot.

In certain jurisdictions it will also indicate that the call is being recorded. This is according to staff at the meeting who asked not to be identified. A Google spokesperson would not comment.

The Google Duplex

Google had introduced the Duplex earlier in the month as described in a recent Digital Journal article.

The Duplex automatically phones businesses to speak with workers and book appointments. Many critics were worried about the ethical implications of a robot that sounds just like a human speaking to a person who would think that it was a human on the other end. Some critics are skeptical that the demonstration of Duplex was real rather than staged as another Digital Journal article reports.

The company did say two days after the demo that the Google assistant would be "appropriately identified' during calls. At the employee meeting executives had reassured staff the Duplex team were thinking about disclosure and the ethical implications of what they were doing long before the demonstration.

Some US states require consent before recording conversations

Google has yet to tell the public whether the two business they used in the earlier demonstration knew they were speaking with the Duplex bot or being recorded. There are several US states including Florida, California, Washington, and Massachusetts that have what are called two-party consent laws. These laws prohibit people or companies from recording phone conversations without the consent of the other party according to the Digital Media Law Project.

A Verge article notes when Google said that it will notify people that the call is being recorded in certain jurisdictions: "Many states require consent from both parties for phone calls to be recorded, so it’s a necessary step. But I really, really hope that Google plans to share that information in every call — not just in areas where it’s forced to by law." If the company is committed to disclosure surely this should be required.

The usefulness of Duplex

In a recent blog post about Duplex, Google claimed that the new assistant service will help businesses that can't book appointments online. It gives them that option without more expenses or staff training. In one demonstration in which a hair appointment was booked the assistant said it was calling for a "cllent". One unidentified person associated with the project claimed that Google edited some of the recordings to protect the identity of the businesses involved. However, one of the locations was actually tracked down by a tech news site, Mashable. Employees confirmed they had received the call.

Previously published in Digital Journal