Japan’s SoftBank introduces AI that makes calls from angry customers sound ‘calm’

A new voice-altering artificial intelligence (AI) aims to make the lives of call operators less stressful – by making irate customers sound more relaxed.

Japanese news outlet Asahi Shimbun reported on June 11 that SoftBank developed the technology to protect employees from customer harassment.

It plans to sell the technology in financial year 2025.

Trained with more than 10,000 samples of voice data, provided by 10 actors who read more than 100 phrases in different tones, the AI is able to change the pitch and inflection of a customer’s voice.

The report cited how men’s voices would be made higher pitched, thus sounding softer. A woman’s voice could be made lower.

Additionally, those who are abusive or stay on the call for too long will be notified that the call will be cut off.

The idea is the brainchild of SoftBank employee Toshiyuki Nakatani. He came up with the idea after watching a television programme about customer harassment, said Asahi Shimbun.

Describing the AI as a “mental shield” that reduces stress for call operators, he said: “AI is good at handling complaints and can do so for long hours, but what angry customers want is for a human to apologise to them.”