Rest of World

For Rest of World's new feature, Parth MN traveled to India’s rural Bastar region. Here the VHP, a Hindu nationalist group associated with the country’s ruling BJP, use funerals to target Christians with forced conversions, organizing the attacks over WhatsApp. Featuring photography by Aayush Chandrawanshi. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eNhG-nsT

At least some part of Meta AI is being built and trained right here in the Philippines. BPO workers at companies like Accenture spend their days training AI prompts and responses on Facebook posts and Instagram reels so the social media giant can roll out a new feature next year. With AI, BPO workers say the demands of work have gotten tougher. Employees went from having 200 seconds, to go through each prompt or response, to 170 seconds now. In the world's call center capital, agents reported answering double the volume of calls under pressure from a monitoring AI to finish each one in less than 7 minutes. "It's like we've become the robots," says one employee at Concentrix. At Concentrix, an AI program scores an agent's each call on their tone, pitch, the mood of the call, use of positive language, if they avoided interrupting or speaking over a caller, how long he put the caller on hold, and how quickly he resolved the issue. One agent said he nudges customers toward high-scoring responses: “yes,” “perfect,” “great.” Every stutter, pause, mispronounced word, or deviation from a script earns him a demerit. "I have to please the AI," said the employee on it's metrics. The program grades an agent, and, though base pay remains fixed, continually underperforming could mean probation, no incentives, or even termination. “AI is supposed to make our lives easier, but I just see it as my boss,” he said. New story with Rest of World

What do the US, EU, UK, Canada, India, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam have in common? They’ve all imposed tariffs on Chinese tech. Today's new story from Selina Cheng: https://lnkd.in/evPGdAK2

Call center workers say AI tools are monitoring their calls, assisting with customers, and scoring their performance. “AI is supposed to make our lives easier, but I just see it as my boss.”

CamScanner was one of 59 Chinese apps the Indian government banned in 2020, amid a border conflict with China. App bans make a loud political statement, but they are difficult to enforce. Case in point: even government agencies are still using CamScanner. Read the latest from Ananya Bhattacharya: https://lnkd.in/ePJzAwKz

Rest of World?is still accepting applications for a Chief Audience Officer to significantly expand our reach and impact as we work to make global tech journalism more accessible & actionable to decision makers. Could that be you or someone you know? Apply here by this Friday, November 29: https://lnkd.in/esFVJu67

Singapore is embracing self-driving cars, buses, delivery trucks, and street sweepers. These autonomous vehicles are a way to address labor shortages and use the country’s scarce land more efficiently. Read the new story from Sandy Ong https://lnkd.in/eewJTfXb

When you think of autonomous vehicles, you tend to think of the U.S. and China, with their Waymos, Cruises and Apollo Gos. But tiny Singapore has also embraced self-driving vehicles, deploying more self-driving buses, freight vehicles, and sweepers. These autonomous vehicles are a way to address labor shortages and use the country’s scarce land more efficiently. Sandy Ong reports for Rest of World. https://lnkd.in/gGP5Qwuz

New data shows that the growth rate for mobile internet subscribers has stalled across the world https://lnkd.in/ePQh4ebf

The Philippine army is recruiting civilian tech workers to fight cyber attacks https://lnkd.in/e-YgyZqs