Taking robocalls to a whole new level

The  Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Information website defines a robocall as “If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it’s a robocall.” You can have your number placed on “Do Not Call” lists, but not all companies respect your wishes. In fact, the FTC reports that there’s been an increase in robocalls because technology has made it easier for scammers to use off-shore services that are beyond the legal reach of the US federal government.

Just last week, USA TODAY reported that the FCC had “approved its largest fine ever – $120 million – against Adrian Abramovich, a Miami man who was found to have placed 96.8 million fraudulent robocalls for vacation deals.” The FTC alleges that Abramovich used “neighborhood spoofing” technology that generated fake caller ID data so that the call looks like it’s coming from a local number.

Would a robocall still be a robocall if the message is not recorded, but live?

At Google’s annual developer conference last week, CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated a new product called Google Duplex. It’s an impressive artificial intelligence (AI) program built using Google’s TensorFlow Extended technology to conduct natural conversations over the telephone to perform specific tasks. For now, Google is targeting Duplex to enhance the capabilities of their Assistant program.

The demonstration included Duplex making a hair salon appointment and making restaurant reservations. The conversations were complex, but Duplex handled them perfectly, all by itself. You can watch the video online at https://bit.ly/2KSlH1I.

In each conversation, the person was completely unaware that they were speaking with a program. In that sense, Duplex passed the Turing test, which is itself an amazing feat. In the future, should we legislate that AI programs must identify themselves as such so that we’re not fooled into thinking we are interacting with an actual person?

What if Duplex is hacked by telemarketers? It could take scamming to a whole new level. I’m honestly not sure if Duplex would be an improvement or more of an annoyance when compared to today’s complex call trees we all suffer from when trying to reach a customer service representative.

As for the FCC’s definition of robocall, Duplex is not “live,” but it’s not a recording either. It’s an AI. So, is it a robocall?

Personally, I’d like to have Duplex screen my calls. There’s already a bot called Lenny that was designed to fool telemarketers into thinking they’ve reached a real person. It’s very amusing to listen to. With Duplex, when a telemarketer comes calling, they can chat with the AI for as long as they like. Technology can work both ways.

Tilley is a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Contact him at TechnologyToday@srtilley.com