The new Google AI voice assistant, called Duplex, highlights the intricacies of carrying out a mundane human-style conversation, as it keeps you off the phone.

谷歌新的人工智能助手名字叫做Duplex，它能在主人离开手机时，像人类一样进行日常对话。

撰文/播音 拉里·格林迈耶（Larry Greenemeier）

翻译 许楠

审校 张艺箫

Credit: ImageSource

（预约理发的语音）

The person making the haircut appointment for her boss? She’s not a person.

这是一个人正在为它的老板预约理发吗？不，她并不是人类。

There’s a trend rapidly developing in AI—have it do the things we don’t want to do. Self-driving cars get a lot of attention in this arena. But Google recently demonstrated AI for more mundane tasks. Their system is called Google Duplex—it’s a voice assistant designed to mimic the ways humans speak to one another.

在人工智能领域中有一个这样的飞速发展的趋势：让他们做我们不想做的事。自动驾驶汽车在这个领域中得到了许多关注。但是谷歌最近却表示AI可以做更复杂的事了。这个系统叫做谷歌Duplex，它是一个可以模仿人类交流方式的语音助手。

（继续预约理发的语音）

Amazon, Apple and other tech companies also make voice assistants, of course. What’s new with Duplex is that it can carry on a conversation seemingly as a human being—that is, somewhat awkwardly. And that’s the point of course—Google doesn’t want Duplex to sound like a machine. In the hair salon example, the woman who answers the phone throws Duplex a curveball:

当然，亚马逊、苹果和其他科技公司也在开发语音助手。Duplex的独特之处在于，它可以像人类一样进行交流——虽然不那么机灵。谷歌不希望Duplex听起来像一台机器，在上面理发沙龙的例子中，电话那头的接线员给Duplex“抛了一个曲线球”：

（继续预约理发的语音）

There is a point in the exchange where Duplex shows its true colors, though. Listen carefully and you’ll hear a distinct difference between the AI’s pronunciation of “10 A.M.” and “12 P.M.”

以上交谈中，Duplex漏出了马脚，仔细听可以听出它在讲“10A.M.”和“12A.M.”的发音区别。

（片段播放）

For just an instant, Duplex’s mismatched tones remind you of being on hold with your bank. <“Your wait time is…10 minutes”>

这个例子中，Duplex不和谐的音调会令人想起在银行排队的时候听到的：“你的等候时间为……10分钟。”

A second Duplex clip is a bit more impressive, because the person answering the phone doesn’t seem to be fully paying attention. Duplex tells the woman three times that he wants to come by on Wednesday.

第二段的Duplex语音片段更加令人印象深刻，因为接线员的注意力似乎没有集中。Duplex和她讲了三次它希望预约在周三。

（预订餐厅的语音）

Duplex has a ways to go before it’ll be ready to handle open-ended conversations on random topics. But one day you may be freed from all kinds of unpleasant vocal interactions. Leaving more time for unpleasant social media interactions.

现阶段Duplex可以设法在随机话题的开放式对话开始之前脱身，但或许有一天，你也可以避开所有这样不悦声音的交谈，在无聊的社交媒体交流方面省下更多时间。