Google's human-sounding AI to answer calls at contact centers ZDNet

Four ways to explore the use of voice technology for your business. As Microsoft uses AI to chase down Amazon in retail, Google is drawing on its freakishly human-sounding Duplex technology to beat Microsoft in the call center. Google is hatching a plan to win over contact centers using its AI, announcing a slew of new features for its Dialogflow Enterprise Edition, which borrows from its own deep learning and AI research, as well as groundbreaking AI from Alphabet-owned DeepMind. The service, which launched in beta in April, aims to help customers build natural-sounding chatbots for the contact center, as well as phone-based conversational agents. It comes just days after Microsoft revealed its roadmap for Dynamics 365, including the new Dynamics 365 AI for Sales app, which will be in public preview in October, and is meant to help sales teams make decisions using call sentiment analysis and to deliver warnings about deals at risk.