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Google’s AI reservation service Duplex is now available in 49 states

Google’s AI reservation service Duplex is now available in 49 states

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Google says it has no timeline to cover the last hold-out, Louisiana

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Duplex uses AI to make phone reservations through Google Assistant.
Duplex uses AI to make phone reservations through Google Assistant.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

More than two years after it initially began trials, Google’s AI-powered reservation service Duplex is now available in 49 US states. This looks like it’ll be the limit of Duplex’s coverage in the US for the time being, as Google tells The Verge it has no timeline to launch the service in the last hold-out state — Louisiana — due to unspecified local laws.

Adapting to local legislation is one of the reasons Duplex has taken so long to roll out across the US. Google tells The Verge it’s had to add certain features to the service (like offering a call-back number for businesses contacted by Duplex) to make it legal in some states. In others, it’s simply waited for legislation to change.

Google has had to adapt duplex to local laws

The new milestone of 49 states was spotted by AndroidPolice, based on a Google support page that lists Duplex’s availability. In each of these states Duplex will be able to book appointments (like reservations at restaurants) and call businesses to check information like opening hours.

Google wowed audiences when it first unveiled Duplex at its 2018 I/O conference. As a feature of Google Assistant, Duplex uses AI to call local businesses, making reservations at restaurants and hairdressers on your behalf using a realistic-sounding artificial voice.

Initially, it seemed Google promised more than it could deliver. In 2019 it was revealed that 25 percent of Duplex calls are made by humans, and that 19 percent of calls started by the automated system have to be completed by people. And in our own reporting, we found that restaurants often confused Duplex with automated spam robocalls. As of October last year, though, Google says 99 percent of Duplex calls are fully automated.

As businesses begin to open up again this year, it’ll be interesting to see if Duplex can keep up.

Update April 1, 12:45PM ET: Story has been updated with most recent data on the percentage of Duplex calls that are fully automated.