Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. frustrated
    • ex. The employees were frustrated when the internet stopped working at the office.
  2. an inquiry
    • ex. The hotel received many inquiries about room prices for the summer.
  3. monotonous
    • ex. Joe found his job monotonous because he did the same tasks every day.
  4. complicated
    • ex. The math problem was too complicated, so the teacher explained it again.
  5. rehire
    • ex. The company may rehire some staff when business improves.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Armen Kirakosian was often frustrated at his job as a call center agent. That’s because he had to answer many inquiries from upset customers, write notes by hand, and search through many menus. Now, the 29-year-old from Greece says artificial intelligence (AI) helps him work faster. He sees customer information immediately and can spend more time on real customer service.

Millions of people around the world work in call centers, but the job can be stressful and monotonous. Many workers leave after only a year. These agents deal with “break/fix,” which means when something is broken, the customer expects the agent to fix the problem. Now, AI can do simple tasks of call center agents, but this has caused some people to lose their jobs.

Experts say the industry will still require human workers, because many problems are too complicated for computers to solve alone. Some companies are already testing AI. Klarna, a Swedish finance company, replaced 700 workers with chatbots in 2024. It saved money, but later had to rehire some staff to handle special customer problems. For now, both AI and humans are needed to help customers.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Call Centers and AI

  • Some companies rehired staff after finding AI couldn’t handle complicated customer issues. What kinds of problems customers have that only humans can solve well (ex. broken items, service issues)? Discuss.
  • The article says call center work is stressful and monotonous. Do you think you would survive in such a job? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Call center workers often face upset customers. How do you think you would handle such a situation? Discuss.

Customer Service

  • As a customer, what can you say about the customer service of restaurants, clothes stores, and other businesses in your country (ex. it’s good, it’s bad)? Discuss.
  • Do you think customer service is better with AI or with humans? Why? Discuss.
  • How important is customer service when you are choosing a product to buy? Discuss.