Technology Review: Sanas

The company Sanas has developed AI technology to eliminate call center agent accents on the phone.

Very fascinating. You can test it out here on their demo page where you can toggle between hearing the natural voice and the AI augmented voice: https://www.sanas.ai/demo

Some articles online argue that this technology is perpetuating bias against people with different accents. I personally don’t see that as an issue here. The truth is that all people of all races and ethnicities are able to understand more clearly people who speak in the same dialect. This is why many companies have been moving call center operations to Mexico and Central America where accents are not as strong as in India.

Sanas' technology both (1) has a lot of potential, and (2) has a long way to go.

It has a lot of potential because accents do play a role in customer satisfaction. And it’s not only international accents. It can be accents from different regions of the United States. For example, northeast law firms have been at a disadvantage marketing for cases involving exposure to Paraquat, a pesticide that injured many southern farmers. These northern law firms have a harder time gaining the trust of a southern farmer due to cultural differences.

Now imagine if a case intake professional in Boston automatically had a southern accent when she answered a phone call coming from a southern area code. And then a different accent when a call came in from Minnesota. This would likely result in the law firm connecting better with the prospective clients and signing up more cases.

However, I believe this technology still has a long way to go because the AI augmented voice has a hint of robot.

Of all the accents in the world, a robot accent is definitely the creepiest. If I heard that voice on the other line, I would think I was talking to an extremely intelligent robot created by Skynet and that the future envisioned in Terminator was becoming a reality. For me, a strong accent from any country in the world is preferable to a robot accent.

But for people that use English as a second language, the technology in its current form could truly help them to communicate with customer service agents speaking with a strong accent.

The technology will continue to improve. I could see this being used on most customer service calls in the future to improve clarity. I think Sanas has a very bright future. Keep up the good work Sanas.