Call Center Giant Uses AI To Neutralize Indian Workers’ Accents

French outsourcing giant Teleperformance has introduced an AI-powered accent translation tool to soften the accents of Indian call center workers in real time.

The company claims the technology, developed by Palo Alto-based startup Sanas, enhances customer satisfaction by making conversations more intelligible for English-speaking clients.

“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 added that the tool “neutralizes the accent of the Indian speaker with zero latency,” which he believes “creates more intimacy, increases the customer satisfaction, and reduces the average handling time: it is a win-win for both parties.”

Despite these assurances, the announcement has sparked mixed reactions. Critics argue that the AI tool effectively erases cultural identity, reinforcing biases against regional accents, as noted by The Times.

The Times argues that while global AI trends aim to make machine voices more human and inclusive of diverse accents, Teleperformance’s approach moves in the opposite direction, homogenizing human speech.

Binoo John, author of Entry From Backside Only, suggests the preference for Western accents is pragmatic rather than prejudiced. “Western customers prefer western accents because it makes the interaction smooth and easy.

Indians too love those accents and anyone with a western accent gets better jobs and incomes so it’s pretty universal,” he told The Times.

Others, however, see the tool as reinforcing linguistic discrimination. Former Bangalore call center worker Akhilesh Agarwal questioned the fairness of the technology, telling The Times: “It’s not really neutralisation is it? That’s just sugaring the pill. It’s favoring an American or British accent above an Indian one. I wonder if they’d neutralise a Scottish or Irish accent? I doubt it.”

Bloomberg notes that the rollout comes as Teleperformance invests heavily in AI, committing €100 million ($104 million) to AI partnerships this year. The company’s exclusive deal with Sanas, which received $13 million in investment from Teleperformance, makes it the sole reseller of the technology to its clients, including Apple, Samsung, and TikTok.

Investor confidence, however, appears shaky. Teleperformance shares fell by over 10% following the announcement, with JPMorgan analyst Sylvia Barker writing that the company’s margins “missed expectations despite higher-than-anticipated synergies,” as reported by Bloomberg.

The shift towards AI in call centers, as seen in India, reflects a broader trend affecting other hubs globally. In the Philippines, for instance, the rapid adoption of AI in the BPO industry—critical to the country’s economy—is reshaping the landscape.

The introduction of AI tools in the sector is driven by the same cost-cutting pressures that once prompted outsourcing jobs to places like India and the Philippines in the first place.

While AI promises greater efficiency, it is also raising concerns about job displacement. Some workers in the Philippines have already felt the effects, with roles being automated or even eliminated.

Teleperformance has framed AI as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, human workers. Mackenbrock emphasized, “AI will be ubiquitous, it is already today. But in order to build connections, customer experience, branding awareness, the human element will be incredibly important,” as reported by Bloomberg

Nonetheless, concerns persist over AI’s role in outsourcing. The rise of AI chatbots, such as Klarna’s OpenAI-powered assistant, has put pressure on traditional call centers.

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski recently acknowledged AI’s growing dominance, but assured that “in a world of AI, nothing will be as valuable as humans,” reports Bloomberg.

As AI continues to reshape customer service, the debate over accent translation highlights broader tensions between efficiency, cultural identity, and the role of human workers in an increasingly automated industry.