AI and a Let-it-Rip Approach to Development

It was once the case in Trinidad and Tobago that many of us began our careers in the mailroom of a local company. My first job was in the storeroom of B.H. Rose of London Street, where I would count and distribute screws, rivets, and tools to workers building the Hall of Justice and the CBTT skyscrapers.

However, the best way to learn about a business remains the company’s contact centre or mailroom, not the storeroom. The mail room remains the best way to learn about the industry from the bottom up and get a shot at climbing the corporate ladder. However, the rise of AI-Assemblages poses a significant disruption to this cherished career path.

In the Age of AI, the roles of workers in mailrooms and call centres face evolution rather than extinction. Live phone channels remain client favourites, and as long as that persists, call centre agent jobs remain secure. Companies only need to worry about upskilling their workforce to ensure that human agents can effectively collaborate with AI systems and maximise their potential.

Humans may have some similarities, but each person is unique. We have different histories, memories, experiences of the world, personalities, and unspoken or contained needs. Use cases of how AI can “read and respond” to human emotion are a game-changer. HubSpot’s 2024 Annual State of Customer Service Report highlights that eighty-two per cent of customers expect immediate problem resolution from customer service agents, and seventy-eight per cent expect personalised interactions.

Generative AI agents in Neobanks discern whether a caller prefers logical, reason-based explanations or those driven by emotional intelligence. This allows the AI agents to adapt their approach accordingly. Understanding the pain points, stressors, and moments of joy helps the AI agents to create a more tailored response script that better serves the interests and concerns of clients.

The IT and Business Process Management (BPM) sector accounted for 7.5 – 11.74 per cent of India’s GDP in 2023, depending on the exact definition of the sector (IT-BPM vs. the broader digital economy). As India looks to its future, it recognises that technology is transforming the future of work. Technology does not make work disappear. The total revenue of the Indian IT-BPM industry was estimated at around $254 billion in 2024. The Indian IT industry is on track to reach the $350 billion mark by 2026.

Innovative AI “upstarts” in India have sparked a mad scramble to adapt. The cost of labour and English fluency once made India the world’s back office at the expense of workers elsewhere. But now startups like “LimeChat” offer generative AI Agents that make customer care jobs evolve. Workers are therefore feeling the pains of job insecurity with the onset of AI integration and the use of tools and bots that manage responses to routine queries autonomously.

While productivity gains will lead to new jobs, there is a need to explore stronger social security measures if the young are not reskilled promptly. Over the next five years, India’s call centres could face a revenue hit of about fifty per cent, and back-office functions could see a thirty-five per cent hit. This disruption may impact about fifty-two per cent of the global outsourcing market.

Disruptive changes are transforming India’s billion-dollar ICT sector with new voice and text AI Agents. No attempt is being made to stall India’s advance. The brakes have been removed. As AI-assemblages threaten jobs built around routine tasks, India is accelerating its efforts. The let-it-Rip Approach to Development will create enough new opportunities to absorb those displaced.

The impact of this extends far beyond India’s geographic boundaries and national economic planning. India is testing whether embracing AI-driven disruption can lift a developing economy or render it an endnote. The global AI-conversational market is growing at a rate of twenty-four per cent annually and is expected to reach $41 billion by 2030. However, some experts believe that there is a need to assess the effects of AI on the workforce.

The challenge for India is whether it wants to remain the “back office” of the world or become the world’s AI Factory by capitalising on demand for AI engineers and the deployment of automation. With AI systems driven by genuine emotion-sensing capabilities, customer service is changing in real-time, where each caller feels comfortable, the service is customised, and their needs are addressed in ways that resonate with their life worlds.

Innovations like Emotion Logic, for instance, offer insights into the true feelings behind words by leveraging AI and voice analysis. It is likely that a large proportion of customers will return if they establish a positive emotional connection with the contact centre agent, who is most likely working with a generative AI agent as a co-worker.