Google’s Duplex AI now powers Assistant in Chrome

Announced at Google I/O 2018, Duplex takes the Google Assistant to an entirely new level in the realm of “smart things.” In its current state, the “concierge” platform gives mobile phone users with the Google Assistant app the ability to let the smart-assistant make reservations, book appointments or simply check business hours. With the exception of Louisiana and our home state, Kentucky, Duplex is available nationwide.

At I/O this past May, Google showed off some new features powered by their somewhat controversial Duplex AI software engine. Dubbed Assistant in Chrome, Duplex’s AI is set to power the Google Assistant on the web with hopes of automating some of our most common tasks like renting a car, booking flights and reserving movie tickets.

We’re extending Duplex to the web, previewing how the Google Assistant can help you complete a task online, like renting a car or buying movie tickets. More later this year. #io19 pic.twitter.com/lSWH5Rz72X

— Google (@Google) May 7, 2019

Android Police has reported that the Assistant in Chrome is now live for at least some users. So, we gave it a tray and sure enough, you can now opt-in to the Assistant on the web and ticket ordering for select sites now works directly through the Google Assistant. You can see in the video below, searching for movie tickets will bring up Assistant-enabled options that will walk you through and finalize your purchase on compatible sites like Fandango, AMC and MovieTickets.com.

Assistant in Chrome is definitely still a work in progress. I tried multiple ticket sites and sometimes it worked, other times the Assistant informed me that there was an error or she simply couldn’t complete the task. At that point, I was prompted to continue on directly on the website. I also tried renting a car in the manner of Google’s above tweet. No dice, yet.

Anyway, the feature is live in the Stable build of Chrome for Android and is likely going to make its way to other versions sooner than later. You can try it out now, if you like. The first time you access Assistant in Chrome, you’ll be asked to opt-in so that Google can access the information on your screen to assist in the purchase. Pretty cool stuff. FWIW, I attempted to do this using the Assistant on my Chromebook but it doesn’t appear to be a thing at the moment.

Source: Android Police