"Roch Leblanc, Unifor telecommunications sector director, stated that at least one company was using AI to mask accents of offshore agents, potentially misleading Canadians into believing they were speaking with Canada-based employees."
"Leblanc noted that approximately 20,000 jobs in the telecommunications sector had been lost over the past 10 to 15 years due to automation and offshoring, expressing concern that AI would accelerate this trend."
"AI is being utilized in telecommunications to monitor workers, including tracking technicians' movements and analyzing call center conversations to reroute calls or identify sales patterns."
Telecommunications workers are advocating for government regulations on artificial intelligence, claiming it is used to monitor employees and disguise the accents of offshore call center agents. The Canadian Telecommunications Workers Alliance presented these concerns to the House of Commons, representing 32,000 workers from major companies like Bell, Rogers, and Telus. They highlighted that AI could mislead customers into thinking they are speaking with local agents. The alliance fears that AI will further accelerate job losses in the sector, which have already reached 20,000 over the past 10 to 15 years due to automation and offshoring.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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