The Australian Tax Office has reportedly installed a nifty computer program that makes invasive questions like ‘what is your date of birth?’ obsolete.
Optus was contracted to install the system, which confirms the identity of callers using their unique voice patterns, IT News reported.
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The speech recognition software, called Nuance Freespeech, could decrease the backlog of calls at the ATO’s call centre by shaving seconds off each call.
Approximately 75,000 employee hours were wasted each year at the call centre verifying caller identities, IT News reported.
The software is reportedly capable of overcoming accents, recognising non-English speakers, adapting to ageing voices and even filtering out background noise.
It reportedly works by comparing more than 100 voice characteristics with a stored ‘voiceprint’.
The roll-out began last year.
Live News
