Covid-19 is accelerating job losses in an industry that was already automating work at a rapid pace.While call centers have long been a frontier of workplace automation, the pandemic has accelerated the process. Organizations under pressure are more willing to try new tools. AI firms keen to take advantage are sweetening the incentives. Over the last few years, advances in natural-language processing have also dramatically improved on the clunky automated call systems of the past. The newest generation of chatbots and voice-based agents are easier to build, faster to deploy, and more responsive to user inquiries. Once adopted, in other words, these systems will likely be here to stay, proving their value through their ease of use and affordability.