What just happened? Following Google's announcement that Duplex, its artificial intelligence that's used for booking tasks, was coming to the web, the company is officially launching the feature today so users can book movie tickets through Assistant.
As noted by 9to5Google, The process starts with telling Assistant that you want seats for a certain movie or searching for showtimes using the Google app. Once a movie time is selected, just hit one of the "Buy tickets" buttons that appear next to each ticket provider.
Once the Assistant panel pops up and the theater's website loads in the background, Duplex takes over the leg work, asking how many tickets you would like and confirming your details. The service uses pre-filled personal information, such as payment details, where needed, which are saved in Chrome.
Google says the new feature works with over 70 cinemas and ticket services--- AMC, Fandango, MJR Theaters, and Movietickets.com in the US, or Odeon in the UK---Assistant had previously only worked with Fandango.
Google has plans to expand Google Assistant/Duplex on the web's features beyond just booking movie tickets. The company says it will be able to book car rentals and more in the near future.
Google first revealed Duplex back at its I/O 2018 conference. The technology, which was used to impersonate a human and make a restaurant reservation, brought accusations that it was unethical and even fake.
Back in May, it was reported that Duplex wasn't smart enough to handle every call it makes: Twenty-five percent of them start with a human in a call center, and 15 percent begin with Duplex but get passed on to a real person.