Teleperformance Uses AI to Make Staff Sound Less Indian (1)

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, ...