In the world of technology and devices, nothing remain constant, everything changes with time. It was a time when Facebook was a social media platform where people could express their opinion but now it is hub of marketing, business and journalism. Similarly Google is also expanding. It has started producing phones and started investing in artificial intelligence industry, including Duplex.

Duplex is AI-based service that assist person by talking to the restaurants and offices on behalf of the user. However, it cannot talk to the friends like people do. What duplex can do is to reserve seat in restaurant by talking to the restaurants staff or fix an appointment by talking to the office. The machine talk themselves in human like voice to make the life easier. The phone can book the seat in parlor or do registrations as well.

By 2019, the service was available in the United States and New Zealand only but a Google support page reveals that Duplex can be downloaded in Australia, UK and Canada from now onward as Google has listed more contact numbers on the support page.

Google Duplex was introduced in 2018 at I/O conference in which CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated that the service would make appointments without human interaction. He demonstrated to the audience by making an appointment via technology. According to his demonstration, the technology could understand “um” and pauses that make the machine assisted communication more like a human. After the demonstration, the company posted a video that has steps how to reserve seat in a restaurant via the AI.

Initially, the technology was available in a few states and there were concerns about its use. The shops and small business said that the call would be made via machine without informing them that their operator are talking to the machine not a human.

However, Google tried to solve their problem and make it easier for companies to accept it, they succeed not much. In the beginning, the company used to disclose in the call that machine is conversing by telling the listener that Google is on the phone and the call will be recorded while giving option not to record the call while speaking to the humans to businesses. However the companies have chance to choose not to record the call. On choosing that options, the call is transferred to non-recorded line by the Google Assistant. Right now, there are human listeners of the service that has been helping to improve the algorithm of the Duplex.

Google Duplex is available on Google Pixel devices and Android phones that have the OS of version 5.0. The company has said to start the Duplex in iPhones as well.

Duplex can be used easily. A person has to activate Google Assistant, ask the assistant to reserve seat. This will give you list of cafes and restaurants and call the place which you choose. The machine will ask you day, time and date and then the seat will be reserved.

So, this is what you should know about Duplex. If you live in Australia, New Zealand or any country where it is available them use it and make your lives easier!

The post Google AI calling service DUPLEX reaches new destinations (Australia, Canada and UK) appeared first on Artificial Intelligence.

What’s in store for all of us in the future is that artificial intelligence (AI) in some form or other is here to stay. In all aspects of our lives. There might be robots at home to help us with chores instead of maids and of course, there will be plenty of AI help in our workplaces. How invasive or pervasive it will get is not predictable. But this market is projected to reach $70 billion by 2020.

Currently, AI is being used in the form of chatbots, digital assistants and machine learning. These are used for assisted intelligence (GPS in cars), augmented intelligence (as used by the likes of Uber, Ola) and autonomous intelligence (driver-less cars, home cleaning robots, etc).

The hope is that these work-in-progress technologies and the ones that are just a pipe dream so far but may become a reality in the future, will free up valuable time for human beings to do more cutting edge work – give them the mind space to think deeper, make better decisions with the help of data generated by AI, and become more creative and imaginative.

What AI can also do is not just fancy hi-tech work. It can do the low-tech stuff too and “has the potential to democratise services like education, law, and financial advice, providing them to everyone in a personalised manner and at a lower cost”, stated a PwC report.

Healthcare sector to benefit the most

Among the 2,500 consumers and business decision-makers surveyed in the report, 63 percent of them feel that AI will benefit mankind and help solve complex problems. Up to 59 percent feel it will help people live fulfilling lives. Some 46 percent feel that it will take away jobs and only 23 percent feel they will become movie-style monsters without hearts that go on a rampage against their human creators. Eighty-seven percent fear that their privacy will be at risk.

But it’s in the healthcare sector, where AI will prove hugely beneficial to all, irrespective of income. It’s already successfully identifying “autism in babies with 81 percent accuracy and skin cancer with 91 percent accuracy. There’s more – as people feel that “AI assistants will be replacing humans as tutors (58 percent), travel agents (56 percent), tax preparers (54 percent), and office assistants (52 percent).” But they are not sure about adopting them as financial advisors, doctors, chauffeurs and house cleaners just yet. 77 percent of the people polled said they still want a human doctor and 61 percent wanted a human teacher, just to keep that human touch in some aspect of their lives.

However, AI is being used in creative ways already. A DoNotPay bot appeals parking tickets for free and Ayannah is a credit scoring service that has provided 87 percent of poor Filipinos with a credit score that they wouldn’t have got because they did not have bank accounts. The RIVA Machine is a robot that fills prescriptions, hence giving pharmacists more time to discuss medications and side effects with their customers. The fact is that what most people consider ideal today is the best of both worlds – 43 percent of millennials and 28 percent of business executives would pay a premium for a hybrid service that has AI along with a human being’s helping hand.

PwC Innovation Lead, Data and Analytics, Anand Rao, said in the report, “In the last few decades, we as mankind have made our systems much more complex. As a result, no one person can cumulatively know what is involved in any given system or solution. Our machines are becoming smarter by learning and embodying the collective experience of mankind, or a group of experts.”

Go along with the wave

So, don’t fight this technological wave, instead, go along with it and the ride might just become super interesting. The reality is that not a lot of business heads are taking this trend quite as seriously as they should. (Graphic: AI2) But if they want to begin somewhere, here’s what they need to do, to be ready for the future:

Make AI operational across business functions and units 24/7.

Currently, business leaders are complacent about risks and need to start becoming responsible about them.

Reinvent your business model and look for opportunities.

Start with the first step: Get on board the AI game. This year’s PwC’s third annual AI Predictions report stated that only 4% of the executives surveyed plan to deploy it enterprise-wide in 2020. Last year, this figure was 20 percent!

Cultivate adaptability and creativity – a sense of wonder and curiosity will also help

Embrace diverse perspectives and collaborate.

On a lighter note, survey respondents felt that by 2025, AI might be able to come up with a top 100 Billboard song, write a hit TV series or create a piece of art that is worth over $100,000. However, AI was unlikely to come up with a New York Times bestseller, writing an Oscar-winning movie and winning a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. It was heartening to note this last point, for sure!

The post Peeking into the future: What artificial intelligence can and can’t do appeared first on Artificial Intelligence.

As we draw closer to 2020, Rick Rider, Senior Director, Product Management, Infor shares predictions on AI.

Moving to “Intellectual Digital Assistants. “To meet growing enterprise user expectations, AI Digital Assistants will evolve into “Intellectual Digital Assistants.” Users no longer are satisfied with just telling Digital Assistants what to do and having them automatically execute certain tasks or basic configurations. 2020 will be the year when these digital assistants, using AI and machine learning (ML), start to understand the context of what users are doing, recommend potential next steps (based on completed actions), identify mistakes and auto-correct inputs, and start to engage with users in dynamic, on-the-fly conversations.

AI helps define a “new normal.” In 2020, AI and machine learning platforms will start to challenge conventional thinking, when it comes to enterprise business processes and expected outcomes. In other words, these systems will re-define our default assumptions about what is “normal.” This will make business process re-engineering and resource training more efficient. When examining supply chain processes, for example, AI platforms have observed that default values – related to expected delivery dates and payment dates – typically are used only 4 percent of the time. Users almost always plug in their own values. Therefore, AI and machine learning systems will start enabling us to disregard default values, as we understand them today, and act more quickly through trust in our data. We no longer will be beholden to predefined rules, defaults, or assumptions.

Operationalizing AI. Industry-specific templates will make AI easier to use and deploy in 2020. In manufacturing, AI and machine learning systems, will take advantage of templated processes to help enterprises better manage their parts inventories, improve demand forecasting and supply chain efficiency, and improve quality control and time-to-delivery. In healthcare, organizations will leverage AI and machine learning to better integrate data that’s segregated in application silos, exchange information with partners across the care continuum, and better use that data to respond to regulatory and compliance requirements. And, in retail, companies will use AI and ML to better predict demand patterns and shipment dates, based on defined rules, and improve their short- and long-term planning processes.

The post AI and machine learning platforms will start to challenge conventional thinking appeared first on Artificial Intelligence.