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Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The World's Largest Call Center Company Will Use AI To Scrub Indian Accents To 'Create More Intimacy, Increase Customer Satisfaction'
The world's largest call center operator, Teleperformance, is rolling out artificial intelligence to modify the accents of its Indian customer service agents in real-time. The company claims this move will make agents more understandable to English-speaking customers and improve overall call quality. Teleperformance has partnered with Palo Alto-based startup Sanas, investing $13 million into its 'accent translation' technology. This AI system softens an agent's accent while also eliminating background noise such as sirens, roosters, or office chatter. The company has exclusive rights to resell this technology to its clients, which include Apple, Samsung, and TikTok. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. The secret weapon in billionaire investor portfolios that you almost certainly don't own yet. "When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it's hard to hear, to understand," said Teleperformance Deputy CEO Thomas Mackenbrock in an interview with Bloomberg. He claims the technology "neutralizes the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency," resulting in 'more intimacy, increased customer satisfaction, and reduced the average handling time. It is a win-win for both parties.' While initially deployed for Indian agents, the technology is also available for Filipino workers and is being adjusted for Latin American accents. Teleperformance, which employs around 490,000 workers globally, is integrating AI across its business, including AI co-pilots to train employees and AI-based transcription for quality control. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Despite the company's enthusiasm, investors appear skeptical. Teleperformance announced a broader $104 million AI investment this year, but after sharing the news, its stock dropped 11%. Some analysts believe investors are wary of the long-term impact of AI on the traditional call center model. The rise of AI-powered chatbots has already shaken the industry. Concerns regarding the future of human customer care positions were raised last year when Klarna Bank revealed that its AI assistant could perform the tasks of 700 full-time agents. However, Teleperformance maintains that AI will complement human workers rather than take their investor concerns, the use of accent-neutralizing technology raises ethical questions. While Sanas promotes its technology as a way to "reduce accent-based discrimination," Bloomberg argues it strips workers of their cultural identity and the authenticity of customer interactions. The Philippines, for example, has long dominated the call center industry by training agents to speak clear, fluent English. If AI technology becomes widespread, some worry that it could undermine the competitive advantage of these countries. "AI will be ubiquitous, it is already today," Mackenbrock said. "But in order to build connections, customer experience, branding awareness, the human element will be incredibly important." Read Next: Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – It's no wonder Jeff Bezos holds over $250 million in art — UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article The World's Largest Call Center Company Will Use AI To Scrub Indian Accents To 'Create More Intimacy, Increase Customer Satisfaction' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
World's largest call center using AI to 'neutralize' Indian employees' accents
Teleperformance SE, the largest call center operator on the planet, has come up with a way to mask the fact it operates in India for customers calling for support with their latest iPhone or Galaxy device. In a new report from Bloomberg, Teleperformance shared that it invested $13 million in Sanas, an AI startup. Sanas has created technology that focuses on "reducing accent-based discrimination." As Teleperformance puts it, the technology can "neutralize" accents. SEE ALSO: Meta plans to launch standalone Meta AI app. OpenAI's Sam Altman fires back. 'When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it's hard to hear, to understand,' Teleperformance Deputy Chief Executive Officer Thomas Mackenbrock told Bloomberg in an interview. Mackenbrock said that the AI technology can 'neutralize the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency." Sanas' accent-neutralizing technology currently works on Indian and Filipino accents. The company says that it's working on deploying it for other accents, such as those found in Latin America. The AI startup also provides a background noise removal feature in order to further mask any sort of ambient noise emanating from the call center employees' location that may give away where they are based. Teleperformance said that it's also using AI tools for more common AI tasks, such as transcribing calls and coaching new employees. The company announced it would invest a further $104 million in AI during an investor call.
Telegraph
01-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Call centres using AI to ‘whiten' Indian accents
The world's biggest call centre company is using artificial intelligence to 'neutralise' Indian accents for Western customers. Teleperformance said it was applying real-time AI software on phone calls in order to increase 'human empathy' between two people on the phone. The French company's customers in the UK include parts of the Government, the NHS, Vodafone and eBay. Teleperformance has about 90,000 employees in India and tens of thousands more in other countries. It is using software from Sanas, an American company that says the system helps 'build a more understanding world' and reduces miscommunication. The company's website says it makes call centre workers more productive and means customer service calls are resolved more quickly. The company also says it means call centre workers are less likely to be abused and customers are less likely to demand to speak to a supervisor. It is already used by companies including Walmart and UPS. 'It's a technology that allows [us] to neutralise accents in real time without any data storage,' Teleperformance's Markus Schmitt told investors on Thursday. 'You have obviously the issue we talked about human connection, human empathy. We have first implemented Sanas with clients in India. And sometimes, there is a difficulty people in India talking and vice versa with clients from the US.' He said it would mean 'closer and more intimate relationships' between workers and customers. The company said it had introduced the technology in India and would expand to other countries. Demos of Sanas' technology show Indian accents acquiring a distinctively American twang, as well as reducing background noise. Sanas has been criticised in the past for making people's voices 'sound whiter'. The company says that call centre workers like the technology and it leads to more opportunities in countries such as India and The Philippines. Teleperformance has taken a stake in the US company through a $13m (£10m) investment and a deal that will see Teleperformance's calls used to train the company's accent software. Call centre companies have been under potential pressure from AI owing to the rise of chatbots that can handle many customer queries automatically. Thomas Mackenbrock, Teleperformance's chief executive, said: 'In a world that is ubiquitous with AI, the element of the human ... will be also equally important because it's about building human connection and having this element of human empathy, connectivity will be something that will be equally valuable in the future.' Mr Mackenbrock told Bloomberg that the company was not disclosing which customers were using the AI tool.
Japan Times
01-03-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Teleperformance uses AI to ‘neutralize' Indian accents among staff
Teleperformance, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence system that softens English-speaking Indian workers' accents in real time in a move the company claims will make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancellation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance's international clients. Teleperformance provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple, ByteDance's TikTok and Samsung Electronics. "When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it's hard to hear, to understand,' Deputy-CEO Thomas Mackenbrock said in an interview with Bloomberg. The technology can "neutralize the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency,' he said. This "creates more intimacy, increases the customer satisfaction, and reduces the average handling time: it is a win-win for both parties.'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Teleperformance Uses AI to Make Staff Sound Less Indian
(Bloomberg) -- Cuts to Section 8 Housing Assistance Loom Amid HUD Uncertainty The Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation Research Shelters Await Billions in Federal Money for Homelessness Providers NYC's Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month NYC Office Buildings See Resurgence as Investors Pile Into Bonds Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for exclusive content and analysis on what billionaires, businesses and markets are doing. Sign up here. Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence system that softens English-speaking Indian workers' accents in real time in a move the company claims will make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancellation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance's international clients. Teleperformance provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc., ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. 'When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it's hard to hear, to understand,' Deputy-Chief Executive Officer Thomas Mackenbrock said in an interview with Bloomberg. The technology can 'neutralize the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency,' he said. This 'creates more intimacy, increases the customer satisfaction, and reduces the average handling time: it is a win-win for both parties.' The company declined to disclose which clients are using the technology. Teleperformance is forecasting 3% to 5% revenue growth this year, it said in the earnings statement published Thursday. Still, analysts were disappointed by the company's weak margin outlook: the company expects earnings before interest, taxes and amortization to be flat or up by just 0.1%. Shares fell more than 10% at 9:54 a.m. in Paris on Friday, after earlier falling as much as 16%. JPMorgan analyst Sylvia Barker wrote that 'margin missed expectations despite higher-than anticipated synergies.' The roll-out of accent translation is part of a bigger push by Teleperformance to invest up to €100 million ($104 million) in AI partnerships this year, the company said in an earnings statement on Thursday. The technology was developed by Palo Alto-based startup Sanas, in which Teleperformance invested $13 million earlier this year. Under the terms of the deal, Teleperformance becomes the exclusive reseller of Sanas' technology to its clients. The rise of AI chatbots has led to investor jitters about the sustainability of the human call-center model. Last year, Teleperformance shares fell to their lowest since late 2016 after Swedish fintech company Klarna Bank AB said its AI assistant, powered by OpenAI, was doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents. Teleperformance has sought to allay shareholder concerns by using AI to enhance rather than replace employees, which totaled 490,000 as of the end of 2023. The French company is using AI across the business, including using AI co-pilots to coach new employees and transcribing calls for quality control. Sanas, the firm that Teleperformance is using to offer this accent-softening service to clients, is one of the AI upstarts blurring the line between where generative AI tech starts and the human ends. The firm's software also eliminates background noise — like crowing roosters, ambulance sirens and office chatter. That might sound like an aid to agents, rather than a tool that might displace them. But it carries a risk for customer service bases such as the Philippines that built market-leading positions by cultivating a preponderance of high-quality English speakers. The tools may also be perceived as taking away from workers' cultural identities and the authenticity of conversations. Sanas said it developed the technology with a goal of 'reducing accent-based discrimination,' according to its website. The technology is available for Indian and Filipino accents and is being tuned for other regions, including Latin America, where Teleperformance has many workers supporting US-based customers, Mackenbrock said. 'AI will be ubiquitous, it is already today,' Mackenbrock said. 'But in order to build connections, customer experience, branding awareness, the human element will be incredibly important.' Earlier this month, Klarna's CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski posted on X that Klarna 'just had an epiphany,' saying that 'in a world of AI nothing will be as valuable as humans.' Klarna would continue to invest in its AI support, but use cost savings to make sure that 'the human service part of Klarna becomes even better,' he added. Teleperformance is also making a push to provide services to the tech giants building AI models, Mackenbrock said. 'Whether it is OpenAI, or any AI model in the world, it needs human support for training,' he said. This includes creating, testing and labeling data. (Update with shares, comment from analyst) Trump's SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole Warner Bros. Movie Heads Are Burning Cash, and Their Boss Is Losing Patience Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America China Learned to Embrace What the US Forgot: The Virtues of Creative Destruction OXO Fought Back Against the Black Spatula Panic. People Defected Anyway ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
