---
title: "Restaurants Are Ignoring Calls From Google’s Smart Assistant"
description: "Google announced its creepy auto-calling assistant feature a year ago. Since then, many restaurants are choosing to hang up instead."
date: "2019-05-09"
modified: "2019-05-09"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/restaurants-ignoring-calls-google-smart-assistant"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Google"
tags:
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "Google"
  - "google duplex"
  - "the digest"
---

# Restaurants Are Ignoring Calls From Google’s Smart Assistant

![Google announced its creepy auto-calling assistant feature a year ago. Since then, many restaurants are choosing to hang up instead.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/restaurants-hanging-up-google-duplex.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Shutterstock/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Hello, This is Robot

Almost exactly a year ago, everyone was [flipping out](<https://futurism.com/google-assistant-booked-haircut-duplex>) over Google's newly announced Duplex feature, which basically pretends to be a human assistant in order to make reservations at restaurants or schedule trips to the hairdresser.

But the AI-powered assistant has struggled to win over the hearts of service workers. *The Verge* [reports that](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/9/18538194/google-duplex-ai-restaurants-experiences-review-robocalls>) restaurants are hanging up on Google's auto-calling voice assistant — sometimes because they're creeped out by how lifelike it sounds.

"I was spooked at how natural and human the machine sounds," server Shawn Watford of Birmingham, Alabama told *The Verge*. "It was so weird \[that\] when it called, I immediately hung up."

## Friend or Foe

Other restaurant employees ignore the calls because they think they're spam — understandable, considering that robocallers have quickly become a particularly [nagging reality of life](<https://futurism.com/robocalls-arms-race>).

Setting up online booking services like OpenTable can be expensive for smaller businesses, as *The Verge* points out, forcing them to rely on call-based reservations, foot traffic, and walk-ins.

But there's one thing Google's AI call feature has going for it: Google's robot slaves aren't pushy and speak very clearly — not something you can expect from every human caller trying to make a reservation.

**READ MORE:** [One Year Later, Restaurants Are Still Confused by Google Duplex](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/9/18538194/google-duplex-ai-restaurants-experiences-review-robocalls>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on Duplex:** [Yes, Google’s Phone-Calling AI Is Cool. But Why Does It Exist?](<https://futurism.com/google-duplex-why-exist>)

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)