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Comment by fixermark | Hacker News Reader

> I can't see many real people wanting to automate calling the hair salon, because then you're being fairly pretentious as if you're too busy to pick up the phone.

Just a short list:

- the deaf

- the mute

- the very socially awkward

In the last category: I can personally attest that I've put off scheduling an appointment with someone I've done business with in the past for two days, purely because the thought of actually picking up the phone and going through the process of aligning our calendars makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. If I can pass that task to an assistant, my life would be much easier.

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I think it's very interesting that the only positive defense of Duplex that I'm seeing, is about using it for accessibility purposes.

And you know what? It's a really really good point, Duplex could help a lot of people get things done. You know what else? There are already services like that, and they always announce themselves. Making that cheaper and more automated, so it can benefit more people, seems like a fantastic idea. No need to turn humans answering phones into an API to do something good in the world.

I used to do phone support for an ISP in the 90s and I would get calls quite often from someone who would announce that they were interfacing between me and a text based system for a deaf customer. If a robot did the same thing, I think everyone would be fine with that.

> If I can pass that task to an assistant, my life would be much easier.

You can. It's called Magic (https://getmagic.com)

Deaf and mute are good counter examples. I know that Google quoted 60% who don't have websites but that figure should only ever get smaller. Such an impersonal interaction works perfectly through the web.

I'm not a fan of calling people either (I've put off finding a local doctor for a year because I don't want to go through the awkwardness) but starting a relationship with an important client using a not quiet real 'assistant' would start off the relationship in the wrong foot. Certainly if someone calls me using this I'll think that they can't even be bothered to speak to me personally and so I'm not worth their time.

I'd imagine the level of personal touch that matters varies from industry to industry. I don't know a restaurant much cares if the reservation is made via the reservation holder, their human assistant, or their robot assistant as long as the customer shows up on time, pays, doesn't wreck the place, and leaves a nice tip.

I was replying to this

> scheduling an appointment with someone I've done business with

So it's not just booking at a restaurant this is someone that you will have an ongoing personal relationship with.

I have very mixed feelings about Google Assistant due to that. Being able to automate calling the hair salon seems like a thing from the dreams. Calling people is hard and painful. On the other side, letting your life be managed by an always online assistant connected to the biggest advertisement company harvesting every bits of information about you seems even scarier. I'll probably try to live as before, preparing for a phone call for a few days until finaly gathering the needed courage :P

There are already solutions for disabled people: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-rela...

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