But work started to look sloppy on more specific requests. Asked to write a memo about consumer preferences in Paraguay compared to Uruguay, the system incorrectly described Paraguay as less populous. It hallucinated, or made up, the meaning behind a song from a 1960s Hindi movie that was performed at my pre-wedding welcome event.
Ironically, the system described Duet AI as a startup founded by two former Google employees to develop AI for the music industry with more than $10 million in funding from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator. Such a company does not seem to exist. Google encourages users to report inaccuracies via a thumbs down button below AI-generated comments.
Behr says Google screens topics, keywords and other content cues to avoid comments that are offensive or unfairly influence people, especially based on their demographics or political or religious beliefs. She acknowledged that the system makes mistakes, but she said feedback from public tests is vital to countering the tendency for AI systems to display biases in their training data or pass on fabricated information. “AI is going to be a forever project,” she says.
Still, Behr says early adopters, such as employees at Instacart and Victoria’s Secret underwear brand Adore Me, are positive about the technology. Instacart spokesperson Lauren Svensson says in a handwritten email that the company is excited about testing Google’s AI features but isn’t ready to share insights.
My testing made me worry that AI writing tools might snuff out originality to the detriment of people on the receiving end of AI-crafted text. I imagine readers marvel at outdated emails and documents as they would if they were forced to read Google’s nearly 6,000-word privacy policy. It’s unclear how much individual personality Google’s tools can absorb and whether they’ll come to help or replace us.
Behr says that in Google’s internal testing, peer emails haven’t gone “vanilla” or “generic” so far. The tools have stimulated, not suppressed, human ingenuity and creativity, she says. Behr would also love an AI model that mimics her style, but she says “those are the things we’re still evaluating.”
Despite their disappointments and limitations, the Duet features in Docs and Gmail seem likely to lure back some users who started relying on ChatGPT or rival AI writing software. Google goes further than most other options can match, and what we’re seeing today is just a taste of things to come.
When – or if – Duet matures from promising draftsman to impartial and expert document finisher, there will be no stopping its use. Until then, when it comes to writing those heartfelt vows and speeches, that’s a blank screen left entirely up to me.
