Google Can Now Automatically Call Stores so You Can Ask If They Have What You Need.
In a strange reversal of the familiar relationship dynamic between seller and buyer, Google now gives buyers the ability to send their own automated calls. This isn’t the company’s first experiment with allowing ordinary people to send automated calls using artificial intelligence , but this option is far more reliable than previous ones.
The feature will launch today and will appear when searching for certain products if you add “near me” to the end of your search. If the product is supported, you’ll see a “Allow Google to Call” button, and that’s where the fun begins.
Click “Start,” and the AI will ask you a few clarifying questions and request your email address (or phone number) and address. It will then call local stores on your behalf to inquire about product availability and prices, and then send you an email or SMS with information about each store.
At the press conference, I got a chance to see what these automated calls sound like from a salesperson’s perspective. If you’re worried about being blacklisted for calling your local stores too often, don’t worry. The automated caller doesn’t contact you directly, but instead tells you it’s an AI on behalf of Google and that it won’t use your call information for training purposes (phew!). It then asks a few questions before hanging up and continuing the conversation. In the demo, the Google employee playing the salesperson was also able to easily interrupt the call and refer back to previous statements for context, though she spoke clearly and slowly—something that might not be as effective in real life.
Regardless, I found the voice on the other end of the call to be uncomfortably human, so I can imagine some employees might be confused if they missed the first line clarifying that it was AI. A Google representative at the press conference also discussed what might happen if your automated call was intercepted by an answering machine, saying, “They’ll figure it out,” and then suggesting that, in the worst-case scenario, the answering machine would likely forward the call to a human.
Unfortunately, Google didn’t specify how long it would take to receive a text message or email with call results. Google’s demos showed that the robot can do more than just report product availability and prices; it can also take notes on special offers or service packages that a human agent might mention.
This feature is currently limited to categories like “toys, beauty and health, and electronics,” so don’t expect to be able to use it for everything. Also, it seems to be rolling out quite slowly—either I didn’t know what to look for, or I don’t have this feature yet, as it wasn’t available at the time of writing.
If you’re like me, your biggest concern with this feature is that you might annoy the employees of the stores you call. Google says it will try to limit the number of calls with the same information (for example, from multiple customers needing the same information) and will also avoid calls late at night or early in the morning. Businesses can also opt out of AI calls by saying something like “Please stop calling my business” during the call or by updating their business profile under More > Business Profile Settings > Advanced Settings > Automated Calls & Texts by Google .
Google’s AI-powered automated calls are only available in the US and only in English, so business owners abroad can breathe a sigh of relief. According to state laws, AI-powered automated calls are also prohibited in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska.
I admit, I used to avoid calling companies because of social anxiety, though I’m not sure if a robot bothering someone for me would make it any easier.