{"id":628865,"date":"2026-05-07T12:39:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/628865\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:39:45","slug":"ai-accent-masking-at-overseas-call-centres-sparks-union-backlash-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/628865\/","title":{"rendered":"AI \u2018accent masking\u2019 at overseas call centres sparks union backlash in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

A growing use of artificial intelligence<\/a> to alter the accents of call centre workers in real time is raising concerns among union leaders and academics, who warn the technology could mislead customers and affect Canadian jobs.<\/p>\n

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The issue is drawing scrutiny in Canada after labour representatives said at least one major domestic telecommunications company is using the technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware of at least one of the three big telco companies using it to mask the accents of offshore agents, altering how customers perceive who they\u2019re talking to,\u201d said Roch Leblanc, telecommunications director for Unifor, in remarks to a parliamentary committee on April 30. The \u201cbig three\u201d are Rogers, Bell and Telus.<\/p>\n

Leblanc did not name the company, but Telus Digital previously posted on its website announcing a partnership with an \u201cAI-powered speech enhancement\u201d company to \u201csoften accents.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cSpeech enhancement AI leverages cutting-edge speech-to-speech models to transform audio in real time. These models directly modify the acoustic features of speech, preserving the speaker\u2019s voice while improving clarity and reducing accent-related friction,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

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Telus did not respond to request for comment. Rogers Communications and Bell Canada both denied using AI in this way when asked by Global News.<\/p>\n

AI tools demonstrated online show how a speaker\u2019s accent can be instantly modified, allowing non-native English speakers to sound more like anglophones.<\/p>\n

The Philippines and India are major global hubs for call centres serving North American companies, which are increasingly outsourcing such customer service operations to reduce costs.<\/p>\n

As a growing number of firms are turning to AI to make workers\u2019 speech easier for customers to understand, the Canadian Telecommunications Workers Alliance is flagging the practice at the federal level.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCanadians should know when AI is being used,\u201d said Leblanc.<\/p>\n

Renee Sieber, an associate professor at McGill University, said the technology may appear harmless but could have broader consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s an application that a company may say is benign, but actually could be stealing Canadian jobs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a kind of deception.\u201d<\/p>\n

The practice appears to be expanding globally.<\/p>\n

Teleperformance SE, the world\u2019s largest call centre operator, is reportedly rolling out AI technology to eliminate the accents of Indian workers.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the technology however say the tools can improve communication. \u201cIt is very hard sometimes when you\u2019re on the line with someone and you can\u2019t understand them and you want something done,\u201d said Maura Grossman, a research professor at the University of Waterloo.<\/p>\n

But critics argue the technology could increase outsourcing and reduce acceptance of different accents.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to ask yourself, would we be doing this if it was for an accent from Australia or the U.K.?\u201d Grossman questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if the answer is no, then that sounds rather discriminatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government has yet to release its long-awaited national AI strategy, but has said it will address issues of transparency.<\/p>\n

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It remains unclear whether that would include requiring companies to disclose whether a voice has been altered or generated by AI.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A growing use of artificial intelligence to alter the accents of call centre workers in real time is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,241460,103,5457,172,74],"class_list":["post-628865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-call-centre","tag-canada","tag-consumer","tag-tech","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}