Call Centers Using AI To 'Whiten' Indian Accents
- Reference: 0176602257
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/03/03/2029218/call-centers-using-ai-to-whiten-indian-accents
- Source link:
> 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 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 center workers more productive and means customer service calls are resolved more quickly. The company also says it means call center 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.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/01/biggest-call-centre-operator-uses-ai-remove-indian-accent/?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first
Thank you. Come again. (Score:3)
Would be the give away.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm looking forward to hearing "please do the needful" in an American accent.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a doubt, as I got to know about this today only. But do one thing, say it with a southern drawl. Rest is fine.
I feel ashamed to say this, and it seems racist. (Score:3)
I do recall one instance where someone with a clearly Indian accent tried to help me on something, he did not succeed at all, it was like he was just chatting and blew my concerns off. I did ask him if he lived in India, and he said he was in New York or something like that, and I basically called him a liar. Ya it got personal, but I had some reason for calling, and I felt like I was being dismissed by a big corp who didn't do anything for me.
In other words (Score:2)
Another layer of abstraction to assist in jerking the customer around.
Cut off India from the Internet (Score:3)
Literally nothing would be lost
Re: (Score:2)
From afar, I'd like to see the results of the world needing India.
It's not about skin color (Score:2)
Whiten? Seriously? The problems I have with Indian technical support go far beyond their accent, and I don't give a flip where they live. The problem is that Indian call centers are, 99% of them, guaranteed to consist entirely of people who have no power to do anything but read a script and take you through a predictable flow chart. Cheaping out like this and then calling me racist for not liking it is the worst kind of sophestry.
Re: (Score:2)
I came to the conclusion that T-Mobile customer support in India does not have the ability to do anything, even if they genuinely want to. It's not their fault and I feel sorry for them.
After dozens of failed calls, I filed a complaint with the FCC. Then a white guy from T-Mobile corporate called me and the problem was fixed.
Re: (Score:2)
Sophistry, aka strawman. Don't feed them, brother.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that Indian call centers are, 99% of them, guaranteed to consist entirely of people who have no power to do anything but read a script and take you through a predictable flow chart.
That and:
- Extreme lack of accountability. Chances are they're using a fake name and the call center is a subcontractor. Good luck being able to report the failure of customer service, and any request to escalate will just get you the runaround (likely while they say some insulting things in their local languag
Ask to speak to supervisor (Score:3)
This typically happens after I tell the call center I've already reset the router multiple times, along with checking drivers and ensuring the internet connection to the router is good, and then the call center starts at the beginning of the list with resetting power to the router. When your call center person knows less about the device I'm trying to debug than I do, and I'm calling you to make sure it is time to return the device that is still under warranty, though honestly I gave up on even calling the 1-800 number for most devices a long time ago.
Re: (Score:2)
So the future will consist primarily of AI vs. Karen?
Re: (Score:2)
Worst part will be where the AI gets trained further on all the Karen data.
Re: (Score:2)
> So the future will consist primarily of AI vs. Karen?
If expecting the call centers to know more than what is written on the instruction booklet is being Karen, I will Karen it up in here!
A defense (Score:3)
At first glance this seems racist but the reality is voice communications can be difficult if you have hearing issues or the acoustic environment has challenges. Accents add to that challenge. The thing I have notice after working in different environments and traveling the world is you need to "tune in" to an accent. When first exposed to a new accent it can be hard to tell all the words being said but after a period of exposure you get used to it and it is no longer a barrier to communications.
Like any accent the Indian accent can be difficult if you are not routinely communicating with people who have a strong Indian accent. In that respect such a tool could be good idea. If I call for tech support I don't care where they are from, I only care if they can solve my problem. If I can't understand what they are saying they can't help me, regardless of how skilled they are.
Interesting it can be English speakers that have the most trouble with English speakers of other countries, whereas people who have English as a second language can often handle different types of English accent better. In my case my New Zealand accent has been a problem ordering fast food in America. If I ask for a cheese burger can't you guess what I want? How many things on the menu do you have that sound similar to what you hear me saying? So I end up putting on this horrible false American accent to be understood. That helps but is feels like I am mocking the way they speak. On the other hand in countries like Ukraine and China they have been able to guess what I wanted fine. I think instead of expecting an exact match they try and guess the closet sounding thing on the menu.
Re: (Score:2)
> If I ask for a cheese burger can't you guess what I want? How many things on the menu do you have that sound similar to what you hear me saying?
To be fair, over those garbled remote speakers, "cheese burger" can easily be heard as "please finger". Depending on your preferences, the results can be catastrophic...
Re: (Score:2)
True, but I'm talk about buying at the counter.
True story: At one burger place that was not busy the staff member called over the other staff to hear my accent. Apparently they liked it, but it was a weird experience.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm a programmer. At this point I can understand an Indian accent better than an American one.
I called my health plan help line... (Score:2)
And heard a rooster crowing in the background.
Is AI going to take that out too?
This is the solution? (Score:3)
I know I've had some issues understanding folks who are obviously in India when on the phone. Not only do you have to deal with the accent, often extremely thick, but there's also the fact that the line between us introduces enough noise that it sounds like they're in a submarine, speaking through the old kid's string and can telephone over a distance of seventy meters with a hurricane force wind in between us. If we could clean that up, it would also be helpful to at least *start* the communication on the right foot.
Or, and I know this is gonna sound absolutely batshit fucking insane to business decision makers, but I'll say it anyway, perhaps it would be a good idea to target phone oriented support agents to the area they will be providing service. Since I'm ostensibly speaking to business owners, let me simplify that down to something understandable by the "make it a pretty chart, please," crowd: Hire in-country support people for the phones. If someone is desperate enough to call phone support in this day and age, the last thing you want to do is piss them off by immediately shuffling it off to someone that isn't comfortable with the language they're speaking and is hard enough to understand even if they were standing face to face, then adding on that you cheaped the fuck out on comm lines and are making it sound like 1950s AM radio through the worst battery powered receiver you could imagine.
"Whiten"? (Score:2)
How about just "render the voice understandable to the target audience"?
I mean, I don't think that black Americans, say, are necessarily any better at understanding Maninder ... I mean Bob ... from India either.
Indians can't understand themselves either (Score:3)
> How about just "render the voice understandable to the target audience"?
> I mean, I don't think that black Americans, say, are necessarily any better at understanding Maninder ... I mean Bob ... from India either.
If your accent is thick enough, no one can understand you. I work with a LOT of Indians and they don't understand our coworkers any better than we do when their accent is thick enough....not to mention that many Indians don't really think India should be 1 nation....it's a mashup of lots of languages and cultures and backgrounds with little in common beyond brown skin and being conquered by the English at some point.
So yeah, there's no guarantee someone from Sikkim or Uttar Pradesh can understand someon
Re: (Score:1)
> No one would say they're "giving my accent a tan"...just correcting my horrible pronunciation and tendency to pronounce words with American English vowels and consonants instead of Spanish ones.
Yes, that was precisely my point :)
all your base (Score:1)
How do you "whiten" this? (and I am aware this has nothing to do with India)
It's you, how are you gentleman
All your base are belong to us
You are on the way to destruction
All your base are belong to us
You are on the way to destruction
All your base are belong to us
Re: (Score:1)
In Trump's voice:
All your base are belong to us - YOU ARE FIRED.
Someone set us up the bomb - It was the most magnificent bomb, everybody says we have the best bombs
What you say? - I must say. I always say it.
We have no chance to survive - Welcome to the race, Sleepy Joe.
Re: (Score:2)
> How do you "whiten" this? (and I am aware this has nothing to do with India)
> It's you, how are you gentleman
Good day, ladies and gentlemen.
> All your base are belong to us
Per contractual clause C, sub-clause B, paragraph D, little letter A, I now own you.
> You are on the way to destruction
Renegotiation is no longer possible due to the fact that you will no longer exist in short order.
> All your base are belong to us
As previously stated, and reinforced by contractual obligation, I now own you.
> You are on the way to destruction
Prepare for your business to be concluded post-haste, and the controlling entity to be wound-down as quickly as is feasible.
> All your base are belong to us
Resistance is futile.
Speaking of which, Space 1999 used that line *DECADES* before Star Trek got a
accent please (Score:2)
can we pick the accent? sexy french?
It could work both ways, too (Score:2)
AI could give all us Americans an Indian accent when we call in.
Honestly, that probably helps both sides of the call.
I work in tech, so I'm used to pretty much all the accents. But my 80+ year old mom with hearing aids - who for decades taught English as a second language at our local library - now has a *terrible* time understanding people with accents. It was rough even in person during COVID, because she lost all visual cues under masks.
“Whiten”? (Score:2)
So, this is just a phrase for “Making Indian accents sound North-American” right? Because everyone in North-America is “white”, and everyone in India is “brown” I guess?
“Neutralize” is also silly. Everyone perceives whatever accent he grew up with as the most neutral one.
Won't be long (Score:2)
Won't be long before they replace the people with an AI program. It can read a script just as well (or better) than a human. Of course, it may not stick to the script, but that is another issue.
Coming to a scammer near you! (Score:2)
This is going to be great. Now it will be even harder to tell if the person asking for my bank login is a scammer.
Think of the possibilities! (Score:2)
Every caller can be matched with a voice that suits their racism best.
The caller is a man with a black American accent? "Hey, my brother. How can I assist you today?"
Does that black American male not like other black Americans and treat them poorly? Make a profile of every caller, and then feed them different races until they're happy with what they get.
A southern white American? "Hey, massa. How can I be assisting yous today?"
When I call phone sex, I want a Vietnamese woman. When I call tech support,
I have a doubt. (Score:1)
Please do the needful. Good luck to any AI trying to translate that.
can they remove the accents? (Score:2)
I have had Indian call center operators have such thick accents that I can't understand them over their garbage connection. If the accents can be removed so that I can understand them, that will remedy my complaint and I won't care what nationality they are just like I don't now. I only care whether I can understand what they are saying.
Why not just (Score:2)
... have the AI do the tech support?
Save some money and... (Score:1)
They could save a lot of money and just post the call flow charts to their website support page.
If you say 'kindly' or 'do the needful' (Score:1)
I am hanging up on you.
Re: (Score:1)
Isn't rephrasing those part of the honkification algorithm? If not, someday will be.
I'm waiting for the sexy accent help-desk voice, like in the original Trek episode where the time refugee heard the glitched tone and said, "You people have interesting problems in the future" (paraphrased).
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you for the word "honkification." It gave me a momentary giggle, which is better than most Slashdot comments.
Re: (Score:2)
"Actually"
"Do the needful"
"Please intimate on the same"
"Triple tree" (supposed to be "triple three")
"kindly"
"kind sir / lady"
Those are off the top of my head. Plenty more that I just can't recall right now.
Re: (Score:2)
Phrasing isn't the problem. The problems are 1) inability to pronounce English words properly, 2) barking dogs, and 3) screaming children in the background. The other problem is that they work for a company with 18 clients, and they sit too closely together and don't have sound-deadening furniture....if they're in an office at all.
Re: (Score:2)
I have more problems understanding an Irish brogue.
Cajuns are by far the worst.