Feature
The call centre workers training their replacements
Agents in Manila and Lisbon are rating AI responses to calls they used to take. They know what comes next.
Technology columnist
11 min read
An agent reviews AI-generated replies during a training shift.
Every day, Ana listens to recordings of customer calls, reads the answer an AI system would have given, and marks it: correct, partly correct, wrong.
She has done this for eight months. In that time, the share of calls handled entirely by software at her company has risen from 12% to 46%.
A job with an expiry date
The work pays slightly more than taking calls did. It is also, workers say, strangely intimate: they are teaching a system their own judgement.
“It learns what I would say. Then it says it without me,” Ana said.
What companies promise
Employers say most agents will move to more complex roles. Unions are sceptical and are negotiating for retraining funds and notice periods tied to automation milestones.
Ines Okafor
Technology columnist
Ines writes about technology and power, and who gets to decide what the machines are for.
