The Verge’s demo of Google Duplex still feels a little surreal. An AI making phone calls on your behalf isn’t some distant sci-fi idea anymore – it’s here, complete with “ums,” pauses, and a surprisingly natural rhythm. It’s the kind of demo that makes you sit back and wonder when exactly the future snuck in.
What struck me wasn’t the technical achievement (though it’s impressive). It was how ordinary the whole thing sounded. If you heard it in the wild, you’d never guess a neural network was the one trying to book your haircut. There’s something fascinating about how the more advanced AI gets, the more it tries to imitate the tiny imperfections we didn’t realize were part of being human.
Of course, this opens up a hundred new questions about consent, trust, and how comfortable we really are with machines that blend in a little too well. Progress always arrives with a few loose wires sticking out. Duplex shows both the promise and the awkwardness baked into that.
If AI can now make phone calls for us, what’s the next mundane task we quietly hand off? And where’s the line between helpful assistant and invisible stand-in?
Related article: The Verge
