Nuance AI Enables Organizations to Prioritize and Protect Seniors Using the Sound of Their Voice

By AIT News Desk On Jun 4, 2020

Telefónica is first to deploy voice biometrics to ensure those most impacted by COVID-19 get priority service in an easy, secure way

Nuance Communications, Inc. announced enhancements to its AI-enabled intelligent detection capabilities in Nuance Gatekeeper, the world’s most advanced biometrics solution for authenticating customers and enabling fraud detection. Prioritizing and protecting seniors using the sound of their voice, the new intelligent detection capabilities are first-of-kind and let enterprises quickly identify if callers are over the age of 65 and, if so, immediately prioritize their call, get them to a live agent for service and better protect them from fraud.

As consumers today are primarily interacting with businesses on digital channels, senior citizens are at increased risk of falling victim to fraud as criminals take advantage of the current circumstances to obtain personal information. Those individuals are not only being exploited by aggressive fraudsters but in some cases, by others they know. According to an analysis by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, people hit hardest by fraud—for an average loss of $45,300—were ages 70 to 79.

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To proactively prevent fraud across voice and digital channels, the world’s largest financial, telecommunications, healthcare, retail, and government organizations are deploying Nuance’s biometrics technology, using fourth-generation deep neural networks to allow individuals to use their voice, behavior, and other characteristics for authentication. Nuance Gatekeeper can identify users from the way they talk, tap and text, and determine if the caller is a child or adult. This added layer of detection offers the ability to differentiate adults below 65 and those over, to enable seniors to access their accounts without the frustration of pins and passwords, while ensuring others cannot easily socially engineer their way into those seniors’ accounts to steal information.

Telefónica, a global telecommunications firm serving 344 million customers across fourteen countries, was one of the first to roll out the new capabilities. “The current pandemic has made everyone over the age of 65 both more susceptible to fraud and in need of immediate service,” said Emilio Gayo, President of Telefónica España. “Partnering with Nuance Gatekeeper in developing together proper and agile solutions, we can best serve this group by prioritizing their calls and getting their issues resolved even quicker than we already do. The system is critical to protecting our most at-risk customers while enabling an easier service experience on the phone channel, which this demographic most commonly uses to engage.”

“Our advanced intelligent detection algorithms can detect unique characteristics that are common in a broad age group to enable more effective and efficient customer protection and service,” said Brett Beranek, General Manager, Security Business, Nuance. “We’ve enhanced this capability and are rolling it out to our entire customer base immediately to help them leverage the power of AI to support their most vulnerable consumers during the pandemic and well into the future.”

Nuance technology is deployed by more than half of the world’s largest financial institutions today, and 8 of the ten largest global telecommunications companies. Those enterprises successfully leveraging Nuance’s biometric solutions include the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), HSBC, RBS, TalkTalk, Vodafone Turkey, and Deutsche Telekom. Over 600 million consumers make more than 8 billion successful authentications yearly, and Nuance biometrics has already prevented over $2 billion worth of customers’ money from getting into the wrong hands.