GPT-4o, Gemini threaten BPO jobs: analysts

MUMBAI, INDIA — The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is poised for a significant transformation with the advent of advanced AI technologies like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini.
These innovations promise to enhance efficiency but also threaten traditional job roles within the sector.
Potential job redundancies due to AI
Analysts predict that the integration of these AI models could render up to half of the industry’s job roles redundant.
GPT-4o, which stands for “omni,” is designed to handle voice, text, and vision, enabling real-time conversational capabilities. This development has raised concerns about the future of many BPO jobs.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Infosys Chief Technology Officer Rafee Tarafdar, highlighted the shift towards more value-creative work, stating, “The shift will happen where they will start focusing on more value creative work, rather than the regular work, which slowly will get eliminated.”
Cost and competitive advantage for BPOs
Early adopters of AI in the BPO sector could see significant cost reductions and enhanced service delivery, gaining a competitive edge.
Aditya Mishra, MD and CEO of CIEL HR, emphasized the importance of adaptability, noting, “People who are not able to learn, who are not showing the intent to learn, and who are not able to learn, will have to be let go.”
Kapil Joshi, Deputy CEO of Quess IT Staffing, stressed the necessity of reskilling, stating, “This reskilling is not optional but essential for businesses aiming to balance AI integration with human expertise.”
Real-world applications of AI tools
A leading engineering university is already testing an AI product that will automate routine tasks in its call center and is expected to go live soon.
Aman Mittal, vice president of Lovely Professional University, explained, “I don’t need to put a person there, I just need to put AI, train it on my database and on my information. Queries could be answered by AI better and more efficiently.”
Limitations, challenges and outlook
Despite the potential, there are inherent limitations to AI. Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, pointed out that AI struggles with tasks requiring emotional intelligence and nuanced understanding. “Calming an irate customer or resolving complex issues often necessitates a human touch that AI simply cannot replicate,” she said.
Moreover, Satya Gupta, president of the VLSI Society of India, warned about hidden costs, stating, “Every time you’re putting a query to it, there is a cost to that query… the energy costs alone could rival, if not exceed, those of human labor.”
Despite these challenges, some experts remain optimistic. Prasadh MS, head of workforce research at Xpheno, believes that AI capabilities like GPT-4o will positively impact manpower plans and budgets.
“The impact will be positively felt at employees’ desks when they start having GPT-powered digital twins working alongside and undertaking heavy lift/labor-intensive tasks,” he said.