Google Duplex restaurant booking AI rolls out to 43 states, iPhone and greater Android support coming soon
Google is expanding its Duplex reservation system, the AI assistant that can call restaurants and make reservations for you, to a total of 43 states in the United States, it has announced in a blog post.
If you’ve got a Pixel phone and you live in one of the 43 states now covered by Google’s Duplex system — That’s every state in the United States but Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Indiana, Texas, and Nebraska — then you can now get your Google Assistant to book tables at restaurants for you.
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There’s no additional cost, and it’s surprisingly simple to use. Open up Assistant on your phone by going to the icon, giving your phone a little squeeze or starting up with a “Hey Google / Ok Google” and then ask it to book a table for as many people as you want, at the place you want, whenever you want. The Assistant will then go off and call the restaurant for you and try to book a reservation, before sending you a notification to your phone, a calendar invite and an email update.
While the feature is currently only for those with Google’s brand of Pixel phones, the blog post suggests that support for more iOS and Android devices will come over the next few weeks, while they’re also looking at geographical expansion too.
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I personally run a Pixel 3 as my daily driver, and our office has decent wifi but shocking phone signal, so I’d love for it to make the jump across to London. On the other hand, there’s something a little unnerving about having a robot call up restaurants on your behalf to make reservations. While the calls are recorded, and due to privacy concerns this is announced at the start of calls, there’s actually no way for you to listen in on the call, it seems.
However, now this early test is rolling out to a wider array of places we’ll see if it’s just me being spooked at the idea of phone calls with robots, or if resturants feel the same way.
Ever booked a table with Google Assistant? How’d that work out for you? Let us know on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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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.