Google Duplex is back to help you make reservations hands and human-interaction free – and now it can book cinema tickets.
You can now book tickets to see the latest movies using Google Duplex. Simply ask Google Assistant for showtimes in your area, select the screening and location you want to visit and confirm with ‘Buy tickets’.
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From there, Google will take over helping you to choose your seats and entering the payment information you have stored in Chrome to complete the transaction.
This isn’t the first we’ve seen of Google’s automated booking tech. The movie feature actually builds and expands upon Duplex’s previous stint as a restaurant reservation booking tool. Though in this case Google fills out the booking form on the cinema’s site on your behalf rather than forwarding an automated call to the business itself.
Google first unveiled Duplex at its 2018 I/O keynote. The tech is Google’s AI solution to the fact 60% of small businesses in the US don’t have online booking capabilities. The company has designed Duplex to take over the booking process, allowing customers to make reservations without having to call the businesses or complete the booking forms themselves.
While this latest Duplex service is compatible with over 70 movie theatres and ticketing services across the US, including Fandango, AMC, MJR Theaters and Movietickets.com, Google has only listed Odeon cinemas in the UK so far.
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The feature is also currently limited to Android users so we’ll have to hold out to hear whether the movie ticket booking tool will roll out on iOS or for desktop users in the future.
This isn’t all we’re expecting from Google Duplex in the future. The company has plans to expand Duplex to take over even more types of transactions and it looks like next up is car rentals.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
