Google Assistant can now "screen" your calls

Over the past year or so, just about every product you can think of has had some sort of new AI-inspired feature. Technology companies love to throw around fancy terms like “machine learning” and “blockchain” just to capture the public’s attention, whereas in reality there’s nothing much to be excited about. One exception to this behaviour, however, is Google. Over the past few months alone, Google has shown the tech world that it is the biggest player in developing real-world uses for these complex algorithms, and now they’re reaching their latest milestone—actually rolling out these features to consumers.

Back in May, Google stunned when it revealed Google Duplex, its AI system that allowed the Google Assistant to make calls on behalf of its users. Google showcased the Assistant, speaking with lifelike pacing and intonation, making calls to restaurants to reserve a table as if it were a real person. The demo was at once exciting and terrifying, as it showed the distinct possibility of a blurred line between human-human interaction and human-tech interaction.

At Google’s recent hardware event in early October, they showcased a simplified variant of Duplex that will be appearing on Pixel phones over the next month. Instead of using the Duplex moniker, which refers to the general technology allowing for more complicated conversations, it’s incorporated as a feature known as Call Screening.

When you receive a call on one of the supported phones, along with the usual button to answer the call there will be a new Call Screening button with the Google Assistant symbol. When pressed, the Assistant will answer the call, beginning by telling the caller:

“Hi, the person you’re calling is using a screening service from Google, and will get a copy of this conversation. Go ahead and say your name, and why you’re calling.”

From there, whoever was called will see the real-time text-to-speech translation of the caller’s words on the phone of their screen. There will be numerous automatic responses that can be picked while Call Screening, including options such as “tell me more”, which causes the Assistant to inquire to the caller for more details. The call can be reported as spam to Google with the tap of the button, and the user can also pick up the phone to begin speaking to the caller at any moment.

While Call Screening doesn’t yet showcase any of Google’s advanced AI features, it does show a simple yet incredibly convenient and time-saving feature that will undoubtedly grow smarter and more independent as its use increases. With Duplex as well starting to roll out over the next few months in select American cities, the need for phone conversations between two real people might be slowly fading away. Whether this is a scary or exciting prospect is purely up to you to decide.