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Googler here. I've seen a few other demos, and there was even an internal dogfood, although I didnt use it myself. But I guess you could still choose not to tak

Googler here. I've seen a few other demos, and there was even an internal dogfood, although I didnt use it myself. But I guess you could still choose not to take my word for it, since I'm just a random guy on the internet. Just wait til it launches, I guess. Also, I distinctly remember on multiple occasions having to ask "is this <XX restaurant>?" when making reservations in the past. Does this really never happen to people that it feels more likely that Google is faking high-profile demos in the keynote that it can't actually deliver on? And wouldn't they want to pick demos that didn't include or redacted the name of the restaurant anyway?

gamblor956 8y ago
Just tried calling a bunch of restaurants in my neck of the woods. They all identified the restaurant right off the bat, along with the person speaking. Is it some wierd Bay area thing that businesses don't identify themselves when they answer a call?
- mjcl 8y ago
  No, they usually give the name of the restaurant. People giving their name is less common.
- atwebb 8y ago
  It's common for me to misunderstand or confirm it back to the person due to background noise.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hunter23 8y ago
  I have noticed that some Chinatown restaurants don't tend to identify themselves when I call in. I think part of it is a language / cultural barrier. It's a lot different calling a chain where they have huge manuals on how to interact with customers vs an immigrant family run business. Is that not the case for your Chinese restaurants? However, more likely I think they edited out the initial introduction to give the businesses privacy. They also probably told the businesses beforehand that there was a chance they would be calling in the future with bots to get around California 2 party laws on recording (or maybe they got approval afterwards although I'm not sure that's legal).
  - Piskvorrr 8y ago
    That's the point. "What you're about to hear is an actual call." ("...what you're not about to hear is that we have heavily edited it"? Or perhaps "lightly edited it?" Well nobody knows - and since Google aint' telling, it is reasonable to assume the former).
BryantD 8y ago
I think faking is the wrong word here, but it seems entirely possible that the feature was demonstrated using ideal conditions, etc. Consider that we still haven't seen the Google Photo object removal feature demoed last year.
- dsl 8y ago
  Every company showcases ideal conditions during product demos. Literally every iPhone interaction during a WWDC has been totally scripted. I don't know why people would assume a company would do anything other than show their product in the best possible light.
  - Splines 8y ago
    Although for a product like this, having it work in less than ideal conditions is showcasing their product in the best possible light. I'd agree with you if they were doing a live demo.
  - djrogers 8y ago
    Not 'literally every' one - ""I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please." [1] https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-barista-that-took-steve-jobs-4000-latte-order-iphone https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-bar...
  - eanzenberg 8y ago
    Actually it seems like the iPhone demos are pretty natural. The last one Craig had an issue with unlocking using faceid so he had to switch to a backup. Seems pretty authentic to me.
  - Piskvorrr 8y ago
    Not every company announces a scripted (read: fake) conversation with something to the effect of "this is a real conversation".
pound 8y ago
Of course it was a fake. Responding party was conveniently using sentences with all the keywords needed, otherwise that whole conversation would go wrong almost immediately. Additionally - I have multiple google homes at my place. If you want to know how that demo would go in real life it would be something like this: - (G) Hello, I want to make appointment for my client. - Sure, what would you like and when? - (G) Sorry, I don't understand - What service would you like to set an appointment for and on which date? - (G) I can't help you with this yet.. - ?? What the hell are you talking about? - (G) Playing Katy Perry station on Spotify Not really joking :(
- pound 8y ago
  To clarify: I don't doubt that there is a work on it, but this particular call in demo was scripted prepared fake.
  - staticassertion 8y ago
    You have no evidence. Your supporting argument is a straw man about an unrelated device.
    - pound 8y ago
      yeah, right. because google works on multiple assistants simultaneously
      - staticassertion 8y ago
        You have no evidence that they don't.
        pound 8y ago
        oh, for fucks sake..
        staticassertion 8y ago
partiallypro 8y ago
No one is saying it was entirely fake, just that it was likely a staged event, perhaps even scripted. Maybe they had talked to that restaurant before hand and told them this was happening, then they edited it afterward to get rid of delays. There's nothing entirely wrong with that, but not being open that such a thing occurred makes you look very dishonest...and if you can't answer basic questions about the event, you're probably hiding something. The tech isn't that different from what some telemarketing companies do, so it's not like people are saying this is impossible (some are very convincing.)
heyyyouu 8y ago
I think another way to word the question is that if they're so confident with the technology, why didn't they demo it live? Why the recording? And why clearly edited recordings?
- jonknee 8y ago
  I wouldn't trust a live demo in that situation even without the AI in the mix. You have thousands of people in the room and millions online and you get "Hold please" when calling a business. Great demo.
  - eddieplan9 8y ago
    Steve Jobs famously called Starbucks to order 4,000 lattes during the original iPhone launch. https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-barista-that-took-steve-jobs-4000-latte-order-iphone https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-bar...
- Piskvorrr 8y ago
  "Dear aunt let's set so double the killer delete select all", et al. In other words, a demo is supposed to be awesome...actually running the real thing tends to crash and burn spectacularly. What the uproar seems to be about is that Google insinuates "this is not scripted" (doesn't quite claim it, it's extremely carefully worded: "Google Assistant actually calling a real salon" - never claims it is not rehearsed, just that it's a phone call and a hair salon), while showing something that almost sounds non-fake. Almost almost.
snowwrestler 8y ago
To be fair there is a long and storied history of tech companies juicing their demos in various ways. IIRC correctly the original demo of Microsoft's OLE technology was a carefully constructed simulation, as were parts of the iPhone's demo at its unveiling in 2007. As long as the final product works as advertised, no one seems to much care.
- scarface74 8y ago
  The biggest difference is that most software is not trying to figure out the vagueness of human language. It's much easier to get a few apps working and fix a few bugs than getting natural language processing working with a level of accuracy.

gamblor956 8y ago

Just tried calling a bunch of restaurants in my neck of the woods. They all identified the restaurant right off the bat, along with the person speaking. Is it some wierd Bay area thing that businesses don't identify themselves when they answer a call?

mjcl 8y ago
No, they usually give the name of the restaurant. People giving their name is less common.
atwebb 8y ago
It's common for me to misunderstand or confirm it back to the person due to background noise.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hunter23 8y ago
I have noticed that some Chinatown restaurants don't tend to identify themselves when I call in. I think part of it is a language / cultural barrier. It's a lot different calling a chain where they have huge manuals on how to interact with customers vs an immigrant family run business. Is that not the case for your Chinese restaurants? However, more likely I think they edited out the initial introduction to give the businesses privacy. They also probably told the businesses beforehand that there was a chance they would be calling in the future with bots to get around California 2 party laws on recording (or maybe they got approval afterwards although I'm not sure that's legal).
- Piskvorrr 8y ago
  That's the point. "What you're about to hear is an actual call." ("...what you're not about to hear is that we have heavily edited it"? Or perhaps "lightly edited it?" Well nobody knows - and since Google aint' telling, it is reasonable to assume the former).

BryantD 8y ago

I think faking is the wrong word here, but it seems entirely possible that the feature was demonstrated using ideal conditions, etc. Consider that we still haven't seen the Google Photo object removal feature demoed last year.

dsl 8y ago
Every company showcases ideal conditions during product demos. Literally every iPhone interaction during a WWDC has been totally scripted. I don't know why people would assume a company would do anything other than show their product in the best possible light.
- Splines 8y ago
  Although for a product like this, having it work in less than ideal conditions is showcasing their product in the best possible light. I'd agree with you if they were doing a live demo.
- djrogers 8y ago
  Not 'literally every' one - ""I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please." [1] https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-barista-that-took-steve-jobs-4000-latte-order-iphone https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-bar...
- eanzenberg 8y ago
  Actually it seems like the iPhone demos are pretty natural. The last one Craig had an issue with unlocking using faceid so he had to switch to a backup. Seems pretty authentic to me.
- Piskvorrr 8y ago
  Not every company announces a scripted (read: fake) conversation with something to the effect of "this is a real conversation".

pound 8y ago

Of course it was a fake. Responding party was conveniently using sentences with all the keywords needed, otherwise that whole conversation would go wrong almost immediately. Additionally - I have multiple google homes at my place. If you want to know how that demo would go in real life it would be something like this: - (G) Hello, I want to make appointment for my client. - Sure, what would you like and when? - (G) Sorry, I don't understand - What service would you like to set an appointment for and on which date? - (G) I can't help you with this yet.. - ?? What the hell are you talking about? - (G) Playing Katy Perry station on Spotify Not really joking :(

pound 8y ago
To clarify: I don't doubt that there is a work on it, but this particular call in demo was scripted prepared fake.
- staticassertion 8y ago
  You have no evidence. Your supporting argument is a straw man about an unrelated device.
  - pound 8y ago
    yeah, right. because google works on multiple assistants simultaneously
    - staticassertion 8y ago
      You have no evidence that they don't.
      - pound 8y ago
        oh, for fucks sake..
        staticassertion 8y ago

partiallypro 8y ago

No one is saying it was entirely fake, just that it was likely a staged event, perhaps even scripted. Maybe they had talked to that restaurant before hand and told them this was happening, then they edited it afterward to get rid of delays. There's nothing entirely wrong with that, but not being open that such a thing occurred makes you look very dishonest...and if you can't answer basic questions about the event, you're probably hiding something. The tech isn't that different from what some telemarketing companies do, so it's not like people are saying this is impossible (some are very convincing.)

heyyyouu 8y ago

I think another way to word the question is that if they're so confident with the technology, why didn't they demo it live? Why the recording? And why clearly edited recordings?

jonknee 8y ago
I wouldn't trust a live demo in that situation even without the AI in the mix. You have thousands of people in the room and millions online and you get "Hold please" when calling a business. Great demo.
- eddieplan9 8y ago
  Steve Jobs famously called Starbucks to order 4,000 lattes during the original iPhone launch. https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-barista-that-took-steve-jobs-4000-latte-order-iphone https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4063272/meet-starbucks-bar...
Piskvorrr 8y ago
"Dear aunt let's set so double the killer delete select all", et al. In other words, a demo is supposed to be awesome...actually running the real thing tends to crash and burn spectacularly. What the uproar seems to be about is that Google insinuates "this is not scripted" (doesn't quite claim it, it's extremely carefully worded: "Google Assistant actually calling a real salon" - never claims it is not rehearsed, just that it's a phone call and a hair salon), while showing something that almost sounds non-fake. Almost almost.

snowwrestler 8y ago

To be fair there is a long and storied history of tech companies juicing their demos in various ways. IIRC correctly the original demo of Microsoft's OLE technology was a carefully constructed simulation, as were parts of the iPhone's demo at its unveiling in 2007. As long as the final product works as advertised, no one seems to much care.

scarface74 8y ago
The biggest difference is that most software is not trying to figure out the vagueness of human language. It's much easier to get a few apps working and fix a few bugs than getting natural language processing working with a level of accuracy.