Just curious but does it really matter for a tech demo. IMO even if the person answering the phone was scripted but the AI portion was real, its still impressive to me.
Is playing an edited video or audio piece a "demo?"
They clearly portrayed it as a real, unedited call. If they were dishonest, of course that matters. Arguably ethics don't matter as much as the underlying tech, I suppose. But it still says something about the individuals involved.
Probably more interesting regarding their ethics is that they've seemingly declined to answer most questions about the demo. They've declined to answer whether or not Duplex records calls, they've declined to confirm who they called with it, they declined to confirm if they tested it in a state that recording the calls is legal...
They seem incredibly dodgy for something they announced openly in front of thousands of people.
But do they really need to answer those questions? Clearly they don't want to publisize the establishments that they called. The most likely record calls (although they probably don't know if the final product will) and why would they confirm that they have done something illegal.
It doesn't hurt them to not answer these questions, and they definitely don't want to answer some of them, so why would they?
It could be that the audio is only edited in those first several seconds. That a normal call goes "Hello this is [business name]." Then Google starts recording as it replies that the call is being recorded. And then starts ordering.
And that's likely why, weirdly, no business identifies itself in the audio. They don't want to admit to ANY editing because it would open up MORE questions.
In the demo, the interaction was described as being "real":
> . “What you’re going to hear is the Google assistant actually calling a real salon to schedule an appointment for you,” Pichai told the audience. “Let’s listen.”
