Google Duplex powering ‘where to watch the World Cup near me’ searches

Abner Li | Dec 16 2022 - 3:44 pm PT

While Duplex on the Web is going away, Google is still committed to the voice version of the conversational technology that can make human-sounding calls and maintain real conversations. Google’s latest use of Duplex is behind “where to watch the World Cup near me” searches.

At the start of the tournament, Google announced that business listings in Maps and Search could display a “Showing the World Cup” label complete with a football/soccer icon. Besides doing it manually from their Business Profile, Google has been calling bars, restaurants, and cafes to check and update listings automatically.

Ahead of the World Cup final on Sunday, Google Duplex has called over 100,000 local businesses in seven countries. Searching “where to watch the World Cup near me” on mobile returns a “Places” card that shows a map and three top locations. End users can apply various filters and see the full list.

Google uses Duplex to periodically update store hours and check product inventory by making phone calls. It’s less flashy than the technology making appointments on your behalf, but it’s a quietly useful way to keep an up-to-date directory.

In October of 2020, Google said that Duplex had “made over 3 million updates to businesses like pharmacies, restaurants and grocery stores that have been seen over 20 billion times in Maps and Search” across eight countries.