TelecomTV TelecomTV
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Events
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • Open RAN
  • Cloud Native Telco
  • Telcos and Public Cloud
  • The Green Network
  • Private Networks
  • Open Telco Infra
  • 5G Evolution
  • Access Evolution
  • Edgenomics
  • Network Automation
  • 6G Research and Innovation
  • Security
  • More Topics
  • Network Partners
  • Industry Insights
  • Directory
  • Newsletters
  • |
  • About
  • Contact
  • |
  • Connect with us
  • Digital Platforms and Services
  • Open RAN
  • Cloud Native Telco
  • Telcos and Public Cloud
  • The Green Network
  • Private Networks
  • Open Telco Infra
  • 5G Evolution
  • Access Evolution
  • Edgenomics
  • Network Automation
  • 6G Research & Innovation
  • Security
  • Connect with TelecomTV
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Sign In Register Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
    • Register
  • Search

AI & ML

AI & ML

Google falls into the old ‘my robot’s too smart for its own good’ trap

Ian Scales
By Ian Scales

May 17, 2018

via Flickr ©  krunkwerke (CC BY-SA 2.0)

via Flickr © krunkwerke (CC BY-SA 2.0)

  • Google demos 'Duplex' to its disciples
  • Ultra natural language. So natural you couldn't tell it was a robot
  • It passes the Turing test, but not the ethical one

Remember the Google Glassholes episode? That was the time in 2011 when Google produced a prototype Google Glass - basically some face furniture with a little camera on the side - distributed a few examples to various celebrities and then stood back as the whole thing went pphhsssst!

The project went south firstly because the glasses didn’t work that well (very much a prototype) but also because in its typically ‘geeky, wow awesome’ way, Google hadn’t collectively thought the whole thing through.

For instance, if you stood on the other side of the glasses (an innocent bystander), you didn’t know if the things were filming or when they were not, (especially in the mens room). Some people reacted unfavourably and very soon to be seen out and about with a pair of Google Glasses (pair? Well you know what I mean) was courting violence.

It seems that Google might not have learned much in the interval because it’s come out with something just as ‘creepy’. A feature called “Duplex” announced at its recent technology shindig.

Duplex is a technology (not a gadget) which passes the old Turing test (ref.) with a couple of A stars, and that’s the problem. It mimics natural speech. And to get ultra-Turing, it does intelligent things like ‘um and ah’ in AI-selected places. Its fans see applications like getting it to call a restaurant for you to book a table for the evening. Apparently it works fine.

Let’s just say it does NOT sound like Stephen Hawking.

News and first uses of Duplex caused a storm of protest almost immediately and the skilled Google hierarchy (being used to that sort of thing) quickly went into damage limitation mode. Clearly , they said, they intended the finished product to announce itself as a robot.

But the Google demo had made it clear that no robot announcement was made. The recipients all thought they were talking to a real person when they weren’t. Clearly the scope for frightening misuse is huge. Ethical, not!

The similarities to the Google Glass episode are obvious. They’re different technologies, but the inventors exhibited the same sort of inability to get past the ‘hey wow, awesome’ whoopy stuff and to realise that there was a serious ethical issue sitting right under (or on) their noses.

Related Topics
  • AI & ML,
  • Analysis & Opinion,
  • Google,
  • News,
  • North America,
  • Privacy,
  • Product Launch

More Like This

5G Evolution

What’s up with… Dish and Amazon, Ericsson, Open RAN & 5G in Brazil

May 26, 2023

Network Automation

Towards the AI-native telco

May 26, 2023

Digital Platforms and Services

GenAI fever gives Nvidia a boost

May 25, 2023

Digital Platforms and Services

NVIDIA announces financial results for first-quarter fiscal 2024

May 25, 2023

Digital Platforms and Services

Dell Technologies and NVIDIA introduce Project Helix for secure, on-premise generative AI

May 25, 2023

Email Newsletters

Sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos, plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe

Top Picks

Highlights of our content from across TelecomTV today

1:17:33

From telco to techco: The impact of next-gen operations on skills, talent acquisition and retention

1:14:31

Achieving maximum operational efficiency: How service providers can best operate at speed and scale

1:14:20

Why data and APIs are key to implementing the vision of the digital services provider

TelecomTV
Company
  • About Us
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
Our Brands
  • DSP Leaders World Forum
  • Great Telco Debate
  • TelecomTV Events
Get In Touch
[email protected]
+44 (0) 207 448 1070
Connect With Us

  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of Use
  • Legal Notices
  • Help

TelecomTV is produced by the team at Decisive Media.

© Decisive Media Limited 2023. All rights reserved. All brands and products are the trademarks of their respective holder(s).