Google is done with Duplex on the Web
Google Assistant is about to get less useful this month. Google is sunsetting itsDuplex on the Webservice which allowed customers to book tickets or make reservations through a streamlined Assistant-led interface that automatically integrated personal information from the user’s Google account.
The company has confirmed this through a note on the feature’s associatedSearch Console Help pageas well as an extended statement toTechCrunch.
As we continue to improve the Duplex experience, we’re responding to the feedback we’ve heard from users and developers about how to make it even better […]
By the end of the year, we’ll turn down Duplex on the Web and fully focus on making AI advancements to the Duplex voice technology that helps people most every day.
Duplex on the Web went into public testing with a number of partners including AMC and Fandangoback in 2019, marketed as a “live” Google Assistant service. It would let users interact with the site for proprietary actions like selecting theater seats, but otherwise guide users through a dedicated interface that enabled them to place Google-stored personal information into form fields automatically. It later expanded witha password management feature, warning users when their credentials have been exposed.
Partners for Duplex on the Web have been notified of the closure.
This was a feature branch fromthe original Duplex serviceGoogle launched in 2018 where a natural-sounding, but automated voice concierge would book appointments and tables at local businesses by phone on behalf of Google Assistant users.
If we’re being completely honest, there are competing and even complementary services that do the tasks Duplex on the Web takes care of — from Google’s own Autofill toChrome’s built-in password leak detectorfrom 2019 — without the need to train a computing model for days and weeks on end. Sure, maybe given enough time, investment, and care, Duplex on the Web might have gained a uniquely useful automation, but with Google signalingits priorities have moved awayfromAssistant-branded services, it’s hard to see any bit of Duplex lasting under the current economic regime.
That said, it’s not as much of a loss asStadia will be. Not counting the cloud streaming platform’s beta testing period, it will have last a day shorter than Duplex on the Web did, presuming its final day active was on November 30.
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This article is sponsored by Total Wireless.
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