Google’s ‘Ask For Me’: Everything You Need to Know

Discover Google’s “Ask For Me,” an AI-powered assistant that answers calls on your behalf. Learn how it works, key features, and its impact on communication.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been changing how we see the world in the past few years. And it has made inroads into customer service. By the end of 2025, it’s expected that 80% of customer service organizations will use generative AI to improve agent productivity and overall customer experience, according to Gartner.

The latest development comes from Google with their “Ask For Me” feature. This function uses AI to contact businesses in your stead to get information. The release falls in line with their bigger game plan to put AI into everyday tools. 

Picture this: you want a quick oil change or you’re looking to make an appointment at a nail salon. Instead of you having to make those boring calls, Google’s AI can do it for you. 

Sounds interesting enough, right? So, in this write-up, let’s take a deeper dive into what Google’s “Ask For Me” is, how it works, the technology behind it, and its relative future.

What is Google’s Ask For Me?

“Ask For Me” is Google’s most recent venture into AI-assisted communication. The whole feature is made with one thing in mind: to help you fast-track things when you’re trying to get information about local businesses’ services.

Basically, it’s just a personal caller. With this, you wouldn’t have to look for and dial a ton of numbers and be kept on hold just to ask some questions. The AI will do that for you and ask relevant questions like the pricing details and service availability.

But this innovation isn’t something that’s just for everyday consumers. It also gives priceless insights for local businesses and even for SEO agencies that specialize in local search.

The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020 says that 68% of consumers reported that drawn-out hold times are a major frustration when calling customer service. 

This finding further proves that a solution to get rid of the tedious wait was long overdue—making features like “Ask For Me” a godsend as they automate the whole process.

What It Does

The whole thing is pretty simple. Let’s say you search for services like “oil change near me” or “nail salons nearby,” this feature would be in the information card of the business you selected. When you click on it, you’ll be presented with a small collection of questions where you need to detail exactly what you need.

Google’s “Ask For Me” has its foundation on another piece of technology which was originally demonstrated in Google Duplex. Now this was a feature that you could use to make restaurant reservations with AI’s help. The AI would have natural, human-like conversations over the phone.

With “Ask For Me,” Google has managed to build on that existing technology to take account of a bigger scope of service questions. 

At first, they focused on areas where quick and correct phone details are key. Now they’re testing the waters by allowing “Ask For Me” to be used to gather information from auto repair shops and nail salons. 

Key Characteristics

• Automated Calling: The AI makes real phone calls to local businesses. Every phone call starts with the AI telling the person who picked that it’s an automated system calling from Google on your behalf. This transparency is to set expectations.
• Service Specifics: The technology personalizes the conversation to the kind of service that you require. For anything that you want answered, the AI asks relevant questions to collect every necessary information.
• Experimental Nature: Google’s “Ask For Me” is in its experimental state at the moment. They have not even done a 1% roll-out. Because of this, accommodation is scarce. This means that you’ll have to get on a waitlist. What’s more, is that it’s only available in select regions in the U.S. for now.
• Opt-Out for Businesses: Businesses aren’t forced into these interactions. If they don’t want to receive automated AI calls, they can opt out of it through their Google Business Profile settings.

Benefits and Potential Challenges

The most obvious advantage of Google’s “Ask For Me” feature is its convenience. If you hand off the tedious task of calling businesses to AI, you make things quicker and easier. 

This is especially good for people who are uncomfortable making phone calls or have very busy schedules.

But like every other thing, it has its disadvantages. Some businesses getting AI calls might be unprepared or just uncomfortable talking with an automated system. This could lead to misinterpretation or confusion about the nature of the call.

How it Works

Now that you know what “Ask For Me” is, let’s get into how it works:

Step 1: Opting In

Well, the very first thing you should do is go to Google Search Labs. It’s Google’s platform for beta testing features that are in development. 

After that, you need to opt into the “Ask For Me” project. But you should know that since it’s still in its baby stages, there’ll be a waitlist. So remember to check back later.

Step 2: Initiating a Search

If you’re finally enrolled, then we can move on to the next step. It’s pretty simple. You just need to do a regular Google search. 

For instance, type in “oil change near me” in the search bar, and you’ll see an information card that asks if you want Google to handle the call.

Step 3: Providing Details

When you do click on the “Ask For Me” button, you’ll be asked to fill in the exact details of what you want asked. Let’s say for an oil change, it could be questions like:

• Vehicle Information: Details such as your car’s make, model, and year.
• Service Requirements: Whether you need just an oil change or additional services like a tire rotation.
• Scheduling Preferences: Your preferred appointment times and whether you’re looking for the earliest availability.

Step 4: The AI Makes the Call

Now here’s the fun part. After all the necessary details are gathered, Google’s AI uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) to make the call. As discussed earlier, the call runs on the same base technology as Duplex. 

Then when the business picks up, the AI makes an introduction by saying something like, “Hi, I’m calling from Google on behalf of a customer. Could you please tell me about your service pricing and availability for an oil change?”

Not only that, the AI asks a set of other relevant questions, listens to the responses, and even steers around unexpected conversations. This is probably one of the more interesting aspects of this technology—the ability to adapt in real time.

Step 5: Receiving the Information

After the AI is done with the call, you don’t need to hang around on the phone. The details the AI gathered will be automatically summarized and sent to you through text or email. 

In most instances, the information will arrive in less than 30 minutes. This convenience helps you quickly compare options.

Step 6: Follow-Up and Next Steps

Now since the feature is still in the beta stage, it might not be fully dependable yet. So if the information you received isn’t what you expected or you just need more clarification, you can simply let Google’s AI make the call again. You also have the option of calling the business yourself.

The Technology Behind “Ask For Me”

“Ask For Me” is based on the same underlying technology that Google Duplex is using. Duplex uses complex AI algorithms and NLP to make human-like conversations. And that was released way back in 2018. 

Duplex and Natural Language Processing

Google Duplex initially started out as a tool to help people make restaurant reservations and update business details on Google Maps. Google further refined this technology to give birth to “Ask For Me” which can handle a bigger set of work.

The AI is developed using a recurrent neural network architecture. This architecture lets it make sense of context, manage conversation flow, and even imitate natural speech patterns (like the occasional “um” or “uh”) to sound human.

Integration with Google Search

Probably the biggest advantage Google has with this kind of technology against its competitors is its seamless integration with Google Search. Most of us are already using Google every day to find all sorts of information. 

But then now you get the ability to delegate a phone call directly from the search results page, making everything just more convenient and seamless. 

Google designed this integration to reduce friction. So you don’t have to press extra buttons to switch apps or even devices.

Handling Variability

Not all phone calls are the same. They might be similar but not ever exactly the same. And that’s where the AI’s extensive adaptability makes a huge difference. “Ask For Me” is programmed to handle various conversational twists and turns.

How? For instance, if a business rep responds with something unexpected or requests the AI to clarify something, then the AI will manage the chat and still get what you need from the business. This flexibility is extremely crucial because the AI will be dealing with human employees and that always involves hundreds of outcomes.

Conclusion

If you think about it, Google releasing its “Ask For Me” feature signifies the next big step in the automation of our daily lives. Being able to hand off a menial task like calling businesses saves your time and energy, and helps you get details fast. It’ll be interesting to see how this technology develops over time.

Google’s “Ask For Me” is not just a tool; it’s a peek into our future. A future of how we might interact with businesses and technology. As we see Google’s AI tools grow and evolve, only the best SEO agency will be able to leverage these data points into their strategies.

You might have your own opinions, either as a customer or as a business about the power of AI, but one thing is very clear: technology like “Ask For Me” is here to stay and will continue to shape our experiences in the years to come.

Now that you know in detail what Google’s “Ask For Me” is and how it works, will you try it out? 

Statistical Resources: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-08-30-gartner-reveals-three-technologies-that-will-transform-customer-service-and-support-by-2028, https://d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf