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Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
- Google Labs has added a ‘Talk to a live representative’ experiment that lets Google Assistant hold on customer service calls for you.
- The feature appears to be the equivalent of ‘Hold for me’ on Pixel phones.
- If rolled out, it could bring the ability to avoid waiting on hold to a wider range of smartphone users.
Google introduced the ‘Hold for me’ feature on Pixel phones back in 2020, letting Google Assistant hold for you on those frustrating customer service lines until a real person picks up. There’s now evidence emerging that an equivalent may soon be available on non-Pixel phones.
X user Sterling (@GreenShades9) spotted that Google Labs has added a ‘Talk to a live representative’ experiment. According to the source, the feature appears when you search for a customer service number for certain companies. It offers the user the option to request a call, which actually means Google Assistant will call the number for you and then wait on hold until a customer service representative comes on the line.
#Google Labs added a “Talk to a live representative†experiment that sounds like the excellent “Hold for me†feature of the #GooglePixel.
CC @9to5Google @NexusBen #GoogleLabs pic.twitter.com/GeW8wbAJRN
— Sterling (@GreenShades9) February 15, 2024
The claim was backed up by two screenshots showing the experiment in action. The first image depicts the feature being activated in Google Labs. The second shows an example, with a search for “Alaska Airlines customer service†returning a customer service number as the top result, and the ‘Talk to a live representative’ widget below with a ‘Request a call’ button.
Google Labs was launched at the I/O conference in May 2023 and allows users to sign up as early testers of new AI-powered features. If this tool rolls out to all smartphone users as part of Google search, it will potentially give many smartphone users the same time-saving functionality that Pixel owners have enjoyed for three years.
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