This, from John Gruber:
But everything about the way Google announced this — the curious details of the calls released so far, the fact that no one in the media has been allowed to see an actual call happen live — makes me suspect that for one or more reasons, the current state of Duplex is less than what Sundar Pichai implied on stage.
This was my thought from the get-go, and John Gruber does a great job of walking through the reasons. He also explains that he’s not bagging on Google’s ability to get to a true human-sounding AI that can book our appointments, and I agree with him there, too. There’s simply a lot that doesn’t add up about the Google Duplex demo and the information about that demo that’s come to light. It’s a good read I recommend.
Check It Out: On Getting to the Bottom of Google Duplex
It sounds like Google has some explaining to do. If they cannot really demonstrate it live to anyone then that’s a real problem. I don’t see how they could release anything to the public within a few weeks if it isn’t possible to demonstrate a live call now as a test.