Google Assistant's Duplex service, which can make concierge calls to businesses for booking tables, appointments, or making general inquiries, is already available in some form in the United States and New Zealand. Now, we've learned it's been established in three more Commonwealth nations. But you should not expect a robot to save you a seat anytime soon, coronavirus outbreak or no.
A Google My Business Help Center page about phone calls from Google Assistant has been updated to list new numbers based out of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Business owners are told to expect calls from these numbers with either an automated system or a human representative from Google.
On March 15, Google announced that it would be using Duplex where it could to ask for updated hours from businesses that may be impacted from government orders to limit or close operations.
Consumers outside the U.S. likely won't be able to use Duplex themselves for a while yet. Even in the states, Google Assistant probably won't be able to make appointments successfully until governments are able to relax their COVID-related public gathering restrictions.