Both SoftBank and First Horizon's AI systems deal with emotion recognition, a critical function in customer service. This is seen as a step towards replacing call center operators with AI. Until then, these AI technologies are being used to address the emotional distress experienced by call center employees.
Key takeaways:
- Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has developed an 'emotion canceling' technology, SoftVoice, that alters angry customer voices into calm ones to support call center employees.
- SoftVoice uses AI to detect a hostile tone and automatically alter the customer's inflection without changing their words. The company plans to sell the technology more broadly by 2025.
- First Horizon, a Memphis-based regional bank, had planned to use AI to detect when a call center employee was stressed and send them a relaxing video montage. However, the bank has reportedly decided not to adopt the system.
- Both SoftBank and First Horizon's AI systems deal with emotion recognition, a key step towards replacing call center jobs with AI. The companies are effectively using their employees to train the AI to handle disgruntled customers.