As the world is moving towards optimising AI capabilities, a French company, Teleperformance SE, has introduced filters to soften Indian-English accents. The company provides back-office outsourcing services and transformation solutions to its clients, which include call centre support.

Advertisment

Teleperformance uses AI to tweak the accent in real-time, a move the company claims is for better understanding to reduce miscommunication and escalations. By which they mean this may reduce demands of 'I need to speak to your manager'.

Also read: China's DeepSeek shakes up AI economics 

The French company uses software developed by the American firm Sanas, in which it has invested $13 million.

Advertisment

Would it be wrong to say English accents are being made to sound 'whiter' under the pretext of ease of doing business?

Avatar, jungle, curry, gunny, bandana, dekko, guru 

These are not just mere English words, but words adopted from India and now accepted by the world. While in another bid, the world before AI was comfortable with Indian words, so much so it is still being used in common parlance. When it comes to food and beverage, chai tea latte and chicken tikka masala are not just desi staples, but palatable across the globe.

Advertisment

Currently, there are about 90,000 workers employed by the company in India alone. Sanas AI offers accent translation and noise cancellation services. Sanas claims it 'modulates accents in real-time while preserving unique voices and emotions to ensure every interaction is natural and authentic.'

Also Read: 'Trump has stolen our content': Gaza AI video creators accuse US prez, say no idea how it reached White House

'Sounds like magic'

While 'preserving unique voices', it is softening Indian accents. Deputy-Chief Executive Officer of Teleperformance SE, Thomas Mackenbrock said in an interview with Bloomberg, “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard to hear, to understand.” Not the first time the company has come under the scanner; they were earlier criticised for making voices 'sound whiter'. Though the website only claims it 'delivers crystal clear communication' and is certain it 'sounds like magic'.

Apple Inc., TikTok, Vodafone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. are a few of their long list of clients. However, the company has not revealed clients using this particular AI service.