Google’s artificial intelligence is moving in as a replacement for low-skilled human labor jobs.
Google’s surprisingly natural voice-calling AI may soon be headed to insurance call centers. A report by The Information was picked up and investigated by Engadget. The report showed that an insurance company in the United States has shown interest in Google’s AI tech.
The insurance company was not named in either report, but it has expressed interest in AI.
The Duplex voice-calling AI from Google would be able to “handle simple and repetitive customer calls” said the report. If a call were to become more complex, it would be sent to a human to receive the call. The idea isn’t to have the insurance technology take the entire claim. Instead, it is meant to help assist people with the more straightforward inquiries routinely received at call centers.
Interestingly, this is occurring on the heels of the quiet elimination of the “don’t do evil” clause that had been a part of Google’s mission statement. The launch of Duplex at its I/O in May has forced its projects to move exceptionally slowly as a result of ethical concerns. Primarily, when the technology was being piloted, it is unclear as to whether or not customers knew they were speaking to a digital assistant and not a person.
Google has now specified that it will disclose the AI voice-calling status of a Duplex-served call.
Using automated systems in call centers is nothing new. For decades, call centers have employed various types of automation to help identify the nature of calls. In fact, there are many that can lead a caller to find pre-recorded answers or basic account information without ever having to speak with a human. That said, these services are exceptionally limited.
In the case of artificial intelligence, the idea is to expand the amount of basic information available to a caller without the need to speak with a human operator. This can help to make sure that human operators are not required to have to repeat the same basic information dozens – if not hundreds – of times per day. It also keeps their lines open for more complex calls beyond the capabilities of the AI insurance technology.
This can help to improve the worker experience for the people working in the call centers. It may also help to reduce 
wait times for customers waiting for service. That said, many have voiced concerns about the number of jobs that would be replaced through this automation. The voice-calling AI technology has the potential to replace the low-skill jobs people currently complete.
