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Hello, this is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I'm Phil, and I'm Pippa.
Have you ever phoned up a company
and had your call held in a queue?
If you have then you've
probably heard messages like this:
Hello. Your call is important to us.
You are number 89 in the queue.
If you'd like to continue to hold,
press one.
If you'd like to return
to the main menu, press zero.
How do you feel
when your phone call is put on hold, Phil?
Oh, frustrated usually,
although I do like it
when there's a number saying
how many people are in front of you.
That's good.
Well, when your call is finally connected,
it's usually a call centre worker
you'll speak to - a real live person
who'll hopefully fix your problem.
But increasingly, this work is now done
using artificial intelligence, or AI.
And this is causing problems
in countries like India
and the Philippines, where call centre
jobs make up a big part of the economy.
In this program,
we'll be asking
who's really in charge
at the call centre: humans or AI?
As always, we'll be learning
some useful new vocabulary.
And remember,
you can read along with the programme
and find the list of new words
and phrases by visiting our website,
bbclearningenglish.com.
But now I have a question
for you, Phil.
Around the world,
numbers of call centre workers
have grown rapidly in recent years.
If you're listening to this, maybe
you're a call centre worker yourself.
So, approximately how many people work
in call centres globally, Phil? Is it
a) seven million? b) 17 million?
or c) 27 million?
I think b) 17 million.
OK, well you'll have to listen to the end
to find out the answer.
Now, one worker worried about the impact
of AI on jobs in the Philippines
is Mylene Cabalona, president of the
call centre workers union B.I.E.N.
Here, she tells
BBC World Service programme 'Tech Life'
about some of the difficulties of her
job and why she fears for the future:
So, and this person is quite already
aggravated and he keeps on yelling
and that's the, you know,
that's the difficult part
because the mental stress also, you
know, you have to pacify the client
and you have to make sure
you're able to resolve the concern.
And then the difficult part
on that conversation is
that you're being monitored by an AI.
I mean, eventually
AI would replace us.
Um, it's going to displace workers
in the, in, you know,
eventually, in the near future, even
as a matter of fact, there's been a,
a study that says
that about 300,000 workers,
or around 27% of workers that's
going to be displaced because of AI,
and that's slowly happening.
Call centre work involves dealing with
customers who phoned up to complain.
They're often angry, aggravated and
yelling or shouting down the phone.
It's Mylene's job to pacify them,
to calm them down.
If that wasn't stressful enough,
Mylene's conversations are monitored by
AI systems to see how well she fixes
her client's problems.
You might think AI was built
to support workers like Mylene,
but she fears AI will replace her
in the near future,
a phrase meaning 'very soon' or
'within a short time'.
Mylene emphasises her fears about
being replaced by giving details
about a study she read,
which claimed that 27% of workers
will be displaced by AI.
She uses the phrase 'as a matter of
fact' to emphasise what she's saying
and to give more detail
as evidence to support it.
But Mylene thinks AI will
never fully replace humans. She says
AI lacks one
important quality, empathy.
Here, she explains more
to BBC World Service's 'Tech Life':
Well, I don't think AI could... is, you
know, empathetic or whenever they talk.
I mean, if ever a machine
or a robot talks to them,
you know, um, people are
more compassionate than, you know,
when you talk to a robot.
Mylene says that AI is not
empathetic. Unlike humans,
it can't put itself
in someone else's place and
share their feelings or experiences.
If you listen carefully
to Mylene's speech,
you'll notice she says,
"you know" a lot.
Phrases like 'you know',
'um', and 'ah' are called 'filler words'
and are used to give the speaker time
to think or to express uncertainty.
Right, I think it's time
I revealed the answer to my question, Phil.
I asked you how many call
centre workers are there, globally?
And I said 17 million.
Which is the right answer.
OK, let's recap the vocabulary
we've learned in this program,
starting with 'yelling', another word
for shouting.
'To pacify someone' means 'to calm them
down when they're angry'.
'In the near future' means very soon
or within a short time.
The phrase, 'as a matter of fact', is used
to add emphasis to what you're saying,
to give more detail
about what you've just said,
or to introduce something
that contrasts with it.
If you're empathetic,
you're able to put yourself
in someone else's position and
share their feelings or experiences.
And finally,
filler words like 'um', 'ah' and,
'you know', give the speaker more time
to think or to express uncertainty.
Once again,
our six minutes are up. Bye!
Bye!
Vocabulary
Word 1 of 15yelling
word
2:27
"shouting loudly, often in anger."
More Listening Practice
About this lesson
Find out how AI is changing call centres and what it means for the people who work there in this 6 Minute English episode.