Truecaller Launches Smart Call Screening Solution with NLP

How often do you answer a call on your mobile phone from a number you don’t recognize? If you say “never,” you’re in good company. Research has found that about 86 percent of Americans report they only answer calls if they can identify the person or business calling.

While this may be great for individual Americans’ privacy, it’s not great for businesses with legitimate relationships with customers. Think about how often we miss calls from vendors, doctors, schools and other organizations simply because we won’t pick up a call from an unfamiliar number. Unfortunately, with the amount of spam and robocalls on a steady rise, it’s simply not feasible to physically screen every call.

To try and combat the problem, Truecaller has launched Truecaller Assistant, an innovation that leverages machine learning, speech-to-text, and natural language processing technologies to create a smarter call screening solution. Truecaller Assistant, available on both Android and iOS, is a customizable, interactive, digital receptionist that empowers users to answer important calls and avoid unwanted ones.

Assistant responds within a second and understands caller requests with greater than 90 percent accuracy. Users can see a live transcription of what the caller is saying, so they know who they are and why they’re calling. This allows users to decide quickly if they want to take over the call, mark it as spam, or ask the caller for more information with the tap of a button.

“Assistant is a game changer for the global market because it does so much more than simply block robocalls. Until now, you had to make a split-second decision as to whether you think a call is important,” said Alan Mamedi, Co-founder and CEO at Truecaller. “Assistant focuses on what the caller is saying to filter out the robocalls and spam so you know whether the call is worth your time or not.”

Truecaller Assistant is available on a free, 14-day trial, after which subscribers can add Assistant as part of Truecaller Premium. The service will be launched in the United States and in English, with other markets and languages soon to follow.