A startup disputes using technology to make contact centre accents sound "white"

 A Silicon Valley start-up has created technology that can instantly modify call centre employees' accents.

According to Sanas, a firm, their technology might eliminate discrimination based on accent and lessen racial abuse directed at employees.

However, other detractors claim it is a step in the wrong direction and that language variety should be praised.

the agents, many of whom are from the global south, "sound white," according to the news outlet SFGATE.

According to reports, Sanas has raised $32 million in funding since June 2022. The company calls its technology an accent translation tool.

On its website, a section called "Demo" offers visitors the chance to "hear the magic" by playing a recording of someone reading a call centre script with what appears to be a South Asian accent before clicking a slider button that changes the speech into an American accent that has a slightly robotic quality.

The start-up was charged by SFGATE with trying to make "call centre staff sound white and American, regardless of the country they're from."

A co-founder of Sanas, Sharath Keshava Narayana, disagreed with the assertion, telling the BBC's Tech Tent programme that all four founders and 90% of the company's staff were foreigners.

He said that one of the other founders' close friend's experience had served as inspiration for the tool in part.

That friend, a third-year graduate student at Stanford University in the US studying computer systems engineering, was forced to go back home to Nicaragua to help support his parents.

The student secured a technical support position at a call centre, but was let go after three months due to discrimination based on his accent, according to Mr. Narayana.

Mr. Narayana, a former call centre employee, claimed that in his experience, agents would suffer harassment or discrimination due to their voice, abuse the business believes its technology can stop.

However, co-founder of Color in Tech Ashleigh Ainsley argued: "Should we simply change people's skin tones because others may object because they are racist?

"We are unable to proceed in this manner. We must increase our tolerance."

The issue, according to Mr. Ainsley, is not with those with an accent, but rather with those who believe it is appropriate to abuse [call centre employees].

Instead, he argued that more should be done to ensure that linguistic diversity is acknowledged and that racism is not permitted.

Accent sensitivity

When asked if technology encouraged prejudice, Mr. Narayana responded: "Should there exist a better world? In a word, yeah. Should the world be more tolerant of accents and diversity? In a word, yeah.

But despite the fact that call centres have been in existence for 45 years, every single day a call centre representative experiences discrimination.

The system is currently used by 1,000 workers, largely in India and the Philippines, according to the company, and it has been warmly accepted, enhancing staff retention.

Call centre agents claim to have been harassed and mistreated.

The expectation that call centre employees will talk with an American accent is widely documented. Shalu Yadav, a Delhi-based BBC journalist who worked at three call centres as a student to supplement her income, claimed that her bosses expected her to get familiar with American culture and speak with an American accent.

Ms. Yadav also discussed Sanas' technology with two individuals who had more recent experience working in call centres.

The technology, according to both, was a smart idea. One individual talked about the "abuse" they experienced from Americans they called but who could not understand their accent.

One more said: "Getting the grammar, pronunciation, jargon, and slang correct has always been challenging. Consequently, obtaining the accent was previously under more pressure."

That person believed, however, that the market had changed and that many businesses now expected something more "neutral," moving away from the preference for American accents.

Its goal, according to Sanas, was to enhance communication anywhere an accent would be a hindrance.

In order to facilitate communication between teams in Korea and the US or between teams in North and South India, it was reported that businesses were testing the technology for internal use.

Details about this story