Google Duplex is an AI Assistant That Calls Local Businesses

A couple days ago Google made an announcement of their latest product, Google Duplex. It's an AI assistant that calls local businesses and makes appointments and reservations for people.

I recorded my reaction and thoughts to this announcement and the product.

Some key talking points:air2:55 - Phone calls help people get things done3:14 - 60% of small businesses don't have online booking system3:18 - Businesses rely on phone calls

Neil Patel also put out a really interesting article today - Call Tracking Analytics: The Ultimate Guide to Tracking Offline Calls With Online Data

Neil actually mentions a lot of super interesting data in the article that support the rise of phone calls.

Here's some excepts and links:

• The hotel industry still receives more than a quarter of their reservations from over the phone.
• And when compared to web leads, calls convert 10 to 15 times more often.
• By not tracking calls, you could be missing as much as 80% of your conversions.
• Calls to businesses from smartphones will reach 162 billion by 2019.
• As many as 85% of people who don’t receive an answer during their first call won’t call back.