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In focus
- Why AI isn’t destroying Philippine call centers as predicted
- Why Anchanto’s liquidity issues are still a concern
- How the US Congress is driving bitcoin to new heights
Hello reader,
AI will save you time, cut costs, improve efficiency, give you unheard-of abilities, and even make you sexually appealing to models. If you don’t jump on the AI bandwagon now, you’ll spend the rest of your life trapped in an analog world, incapable of transforming into a higher life form.
OK, I haven’t actually heard those last bits – at least not verbatim – but the push for AI is certainly getting aggressive. You can’t scroll through a social media app without running into an influencer preaching the benefits of AI.
In today’s first Top Story, I take a look at the one place that AI was supposed to dominate: call centers. Full automation was expected to gut the outsourcing industry in the Philippines and India, but according to people I spoke to, that’s just not happening.
There are a lot of reasons why, but the one that stands out for me is the price. AI is just too expensive for most businesses.
But will AI save you time and money? Eventually, but certainly not today. More money is being invested into AI that’s being “saved” by its users – i.e., call center companies – for now.
So if AI isn’t booming in call centers as expected, you have to ask: How did we get it wrong? I can’t promise to give all the answers, but hopefully our story will give you some insight into what’s going on.
Our second top story focuses on Anchanto, the Singapore-based SaaS firm. My colleague Jofie Yordan writes that while the company’s 2024 numbers showed some improvement, liquidity is still a concern.
We’ll also check out why bitcoin prices are on the rise again in this edition’s Spotlight.
But first, back to those call centers.
Scott Shuey, senior tech journalist
Top Stories
1️⃣ Call center apocalypse fails as flesh beats AI economics
Spotlight
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