Artificial intelligence which could revolutionise the global call centre industry is being developed on Wearside.
Sunderland Software City and Sunderland University are working with technology firm Artingence, which is creating virtual call centre agents to respond like humans.
It is hoped that the system will mean a raft of high-level support jobs, which ha
ve gone offshore, will return to the region.
As well as preparing to launch the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Call Centre for firms to use on their premises, Artingence is being helped by Software City to find a site for its warehouse support system.
As Sunderland has a first-class technology support infrastructure and a workforce with relevant operational skills, it is in pole position to house the facility which will host an on-demand service staffed by thousands of virtual agents.
Using speech synthesis to map queries to different circumstances, the computer robots will be able to answer callers' questions on whichever business they are programmed to deal with.
They will even be able to understand and respond in different regional accents.
As one of the world's foremost AI institutes, Sunderland University has helped to improve the intelligence factor of the computer call centre.
Professor John MacIntyre, Dean of the Applied Sciences faculty, told the Echo: "We are hoping to develop new technology which will revolutionise the operations of call centres, potentially around the world."
However, he added: "There will always be a role for humans to oversee all of this, and we want to see high-level jobs being developed in the city of Sunderland and the North East region."
They could include software development, engineering, design and technical support.
Earlier this month it was revealed that British Telecom was struggling to fill 15,000 call centre jobs being brought back from India, as British workers were reportedly unwilling to cover the same hours as people in the sub-continent.
Artingence says its system could reduce companies' overheads and allow them to concentrate on improving customer services rather than dealing with staffing issues.
It could also banish customers' most hated phrase heard when they ring up, that of "Your call is important to us – you are being placed in a queue".
