Telephone Operators

However, people still help with hard cases. Complex issues – such as emergencies, fraud complaints or callers with disabilities – often need a human’s care. News reports note that companies still rely on live agents for sensitive situations, and even lawmakers are pushing to keep human support available ^{[4] [4]}.

In practice, AI tools often work alongside people rather than fully replacing them. For example, AI can give an operator helpful customer details or suggest answers, freeing up the person to focus on tricky parts of a call ^{[4] [4]}.

On the other hand, several factors slow full automation. Many customers still prefer talking to an actual person when they can ^{[3] [4]}, and companies worry about frustrating callers with rigid menus. In the U.S., there is even talk of rules to ensure quick access to live operators for help, especially for older or disabled customers ^{[4] [3]}.

Also, telephone operators are paid a moderate wage (around $42,000 annually in the U.S. on average ^[5]), so the immediate cost savings from automation are not as high as in very specialized jobs. Given that there are only a few thousand telephone operators left (about 4,600 in the U.S. ^[5]) and the job numbers keep shrinking ^[6], firms may not rush to invest in expensive new AI systems specifically for this role. Instead, many phone duties continue to evolve gradually, with AI helping humans rather than instantly making them disappear.