A Google program can pass as a human on the phone. Should it be required to tell people it’s a machine?

[LASER_oneXM]

Content source

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/05/08/a-google-program-can-pass-as-a-human-on-the-phone-should-it-be-required-to-tell-people-its-a-machine/

Google's artificial-intelligence assistant sounds almost exactly like a human when it calls the salon to book a woman's hair appointment. It responds to questions, negotiates timing and thanks the receptionist for her help. It even says "um" and "mm-hmm."

What it doesn't say, however, is that it's a machine — and the receptionist doesn't show any sign that she can tell.

Google's unveiling on Tuesday of Duplex — an automated voice assistant that can book restaurant reservations, check opening hours and accomplish other tasks over the phone — has thrown a spotlight on how advanced AI can now carry on conversations that are so lifelike that even a human listener can be fooled.

The technology, debuted at Google's I/O developer conference, could be a huge convenience for anyone who hates picking up the phone. But it is also raising some thorny questions about the ethics of using a machine to copy a person's voice, carry out commands - and potentially deceive the unsuspecting listener on the other side.

 

[jogs]

Product demos always look better than the actual product.

 

[upnorth]

 

[Weebarra]

I would say that yes, it should have to tell you that it is not a real person but in the 2nd scenario that @upnorth linked to, i doubt it would matter anyway as the member of staff couldn't really understand the "caller" regardless of whether it was human or AI and would have been even more confused

If i for instance received/made a call to AI then hell yes, i want to know. AFAIK it's illegal to impersonate another person so i'm guessing that Google and whoever else adopts this technology would need to have some kind of disclosure in place to carry this off. I know technology is advancing and one day, this will probably be the done thing but for now i will call up myself and use the voice and brain that i have. No wonder people can't communicate with each other anymore, one day there will be nations all over the world who don't ever interact with human beings ............ that is not good.

 

[jogs]

OK, this is a wonderful thing, Uber's driver less car was also a wonderful thing, it malfunctioned.
You want to take your GF to a romantic dinner, you ask your digital assistant to book a table for two in a busy night. It does that flawlessly and inform you. You take your GF to the restaurant and you find that only one seat has been booked. The rest is left to your imagination....:X3:

 

[Deleted member 178]

what is the difference between an AI and a human giving scripted replies? none.

 

[tim one]

The future scenarios may be quite confused if the roadmap is the current one.

Today, AI is based on various forms of induction and deduction processes.
The concept of neural network has further expanded the spectrum of these processes, but has not altered the nature.
But one thing is missing in AI algorithms in my opinion: the abduction.
The abduction, then the passage from consequent to antecedent, is the process necessary for human beings to formulate a hypothesis about a fact never encountered before, so totally changing the framework of the hypothetical rule necessary to explain the fact.

In this case, it wouldn't be necessary to explain that I'm talking with a ... washing machine

 

[Chimaira]

Yet Google can't even properly translate languages yet

 

[Weebarra]

Yet Google can't even properly translate languages yet

Google can't understand me at all, it doesn't get my accent but then again, a lot of humans can't understand me either

 

[tim one]

Google can't understand me at all, it doesn't get my accent but then again, a lot of humans can't understand me either

It is not necessary that all humans can understand you my friend... just someone of them