Google’s Cloud Contact Center AI Records Customer Service Calls Without Consent, Class Action Claims [DISMISSED]
Last Updated on July 15, 2024
Ambriz v. Google, LLC
Filed: October 23, 2023 ◆§ 3:23-cv-05437
A class action alleges Google’s Cloud Contact Center AI software has recorded, accessed, read and learned the contents of customer service calls without consent.
July 11, 2024 – Google Wiretapping Lawsuit Dismissed; Plaintiff Can Try Again
A federal judge dismissed the proposed class action lawsuit detailed on this page on June 20, 2024, but gave the plaintiff until July 22 to file an amended complaint.
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In a five-page order, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin granted Google’s motion to dismiss the privacy case after finding that the tech giant’s alleged wiretapping of Verizon customer service calls falls under an exemption in the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The CIPA exemption shields telephone companies and their agents from liability for acts that might otherwise be prohibited by the state law.
Specifically, the exemption states that the CIPA does not apply to companies whose alleged misconduct was “for the purpose of … operation of the services and facilities of [a] public utility or telephone company,” the order relays.
The judge determined that Google, by providing its Cloud Contact Center AI software to assist Verizon in providing customer service support to its consumers, acted as an agent to a telephone company to help provide its services.
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A proposed class action alleges Google’s Cloud Contact Center AI software has recorded, accessed, read and learned the contents of customer service calls from California consumers without consent.
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The 15-page suit says Google’s Cloud Contact Center AI software is a “human-like generative AI-powered contact center” used by companies, such as Verizon, to monitor channels for voice-based interactions. In particular, the software has been used by Verizon since at least July 2020 to respond to customers in California and nationwide who call the company for support purposes, and aids call agents by “identifying intent and providing real-time, step-by-step assistance,” the case states.
The lawsuit says that, by virtue of providing the Cloud Contact Center AI software, Google records, accesses, reads and learns the contents of conversations between California residents and Verizon customer service reps. Crucially, neither Google nor Verizon has obtained prior consent from those who have interacted with Verizon’s customer service agents to record, read and learn the contents of their conversations, the complaint alleges.
The filing accuses Google of violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act.
When a consumer calls a Cloud Contact Center AI-powered call center, they may first be presented with a virtual agent provided by Google, the case relays. Per the suit, virtual agents are not identified as provided by Google, and reasonable consumers “believe the virtual agent is provided by the company they are calling.”
From there, the virtual agent will transfer the consumer, as well as a transcript of the conversation up to that point, to a human representative, the lawsuit shares. When this happens, the filing says, the consumer expects that the conversation is between only themselves and the human customer service rep.
“They do not expect, nor do they have any reason to suspect, that the virtual agent or any sort of third party is listening in on the conversation,” the suit contends. “After all, that is the point of being transferred.”
Contrary to reasonable consumer expectations, Google, the case alleges, continues to listen in on calls transferred from a virtual agent to a human agent. Google’s Cloud Contact Center AI software “does not simply listen in on the conversation between the consumer and the agent,” it also transcribes the conversation in real time for reference and/or analysis, grabbing “the context of the conversation” to better provide real-time step-by-step guidance, the suit says.
“In other words, Google, through [Google Cloud Contact Center AI], is actively analyzing the real-time contents of conversations between companies like Verizon and their customers,” the lawsuit summarizes, noting that Google profits from its contracts with companies that use its Cloud Contact Center AI software.
The case looks to cover all consumers in the United States who had the contents of their conversations with Verizon read and learned by Google using its Cloud Contact Center AI software.
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