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I don't see much risk of actually annoying people---since the service is run from a centralized company, they can take measures to prevent their own system from

I don't see much risk of actually annoying people---since the service is run from a centralized company, they can take measures to prevent their own system from DDOS'ing people. It doesn't feel like it'd be too hard to institute rules like "No user can call the same number more than once every N hours." Hell, you can even institute rules like "No number is allowed to be called more than once every N hours from any user" if concern about the service itself DDOS'ing someone is significant. On the topic of the asymmetry of the experience: is the larger issue that the fake John Legend voice will become boring to talk to for a human?

gowld 8y ago
There's a gulf between "it's possible to block spammers" and "spammers are blocked". Look at YouTube and Hangouts, for example.
- fixermark 8y ago
  What you're thinking of as "blocking spammers" I'm thinking of as "preventing DDOS." It's much easier to determine if there's too much traffic hitting a node or leaving a node than to determine if the traffic is "good" or "bad." I haven't seen anyone describe a way the system can generate "bad" traffic yet (that doesn't just degenerate into dumb games you could play without Duplex involved, like booking a reservation with your own phone and then just not showing up); generating too much traffic is a far more easily solved problem. But on the topic of discerning whether the traffic is "good" or "bad:" this is actually a circumstance where the mass of data Google has access to that seems to so frighten people works to the advantage of the business-owner. Identifying bad users of the system could be done, for example, by collating data on reservations with geolocation data gleaned from maps to note there's a pattern of a particular user booking reservations they never use. Google can then just deny them access to the service to preserve the service's reputation.
cmsj 8y ago
"Ok Google, get me an appointment at the hair salon for Tuesday morning" "I'm sorry fixermark, I can't call that number until Friday because 12 other people are in the queue to talk to the salon and Google doesn't want to annoy them" A small snippet from an assistant conversation that is never going to happen :)
- fixermark 8y ago
  Why not? 12 other people in the queue is signal that you're not going to get that appointment anyway. "That number is very busy. I can put you in the queue for the call, but would you like me to suggest alternatives instead?" (which is kind of neat, and something not even a regular human assistant could do for me)
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    Hair salons can handle a lot more than 12 appointments in a day.
    - pas 8y ago
      But they usually don't have 12 people booking at the same time. That suggests, that there are hundreds calling all day.

gowld 8y ago

There's a gulf between "it's possible to block spammers" and "spammers are blocked". Look at YouTube and Hangouts, for example.

fixermark 8y ago
What you're thinking of as "blocking spammers" I'm thinking of as "preventing DDOS." It's much easier to determine if there's too much traffic hitting a node or leaving a node than to determine if the traffic is "good" or "bad." I haven't seen anyone describe a way the system can generate "bad" traffic yet (that doesn't just degenerate into dumb games you could play without Duplex involved, like booking a reservation with your own phone and then just not showing up); generating too much traffic is a far more easily solved problem. But on the topic of discerning whether the traffic is "good" or "bad:" this is actually a circumstance where the mass of data Google has access to that seems to so frighten people works to the advantage of the business-owner. Identifying bad users of the system could be done, for example, by collating data on reservations with geolocation data gleaned from maps to note there's a pattern of a particular user booking reservations they never use. Google can then just deny them access to the service to preserve the service's reputation.

cmsj 8y ago

"Ok Google, get me an appointment at the hair salon for Tuesday morning" "I'm sorry fixermark, I can't call that number until Friday because 12 other people are in the queue to talk to the salon and Google doesn't want to annoy them" A small snippet from an assistant conversation that is never going to happen :)

fixermark 8y ago
Why not? 12 other people in the queue is signal that you're not going to get that appointment anyway. "That number is very busy. I can put you in the queue for the call, but would you like me to suggest alternatives instead?" (which is kind of neat, and something not even a regular human assistant could do for me)
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  Hair salons can handle a lot more than 12 appointments in a day.
  - pas 8y ago
    But they usually don't have 12 people booking at the same time. That suggests, that there are hundreds calling all day.