Google Starts Offering Duplex Phone Calls in UK, Canada and Australia

Google has started offering the Duplex service within Google Assistant in more countries. Duplex can call restaurants for users to make reservations. The software now works in five English-speaking countries.

Duplex now works from numbers in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK, says a support page. The search giant confirms to Venturebeat the move to offer Duplex in those countries. It is the first time that Duplex has become available in more countries, although the software only works in English so far.

Duplex is Assistant’s function to independently call a restaurant to reserve a table. If it is possible to book a table online, Assistant will do that. Only if this is not possible will the software call. The software also states that it is not a human being and that restaurant employees can indicate that they want to speak to a human being; if so, the software responds to it.

Google announced Duplex two years ago and the feature has been working in the US for a year and a half. Since last year, the software also works on phones other than Google’s own Pixel phones.