ChatGPT provided better customer service than his staff. He fired them.

But economists and workforce development experts say the shift could have a profound effect on economies across the world, especially in countries like India and the Philippines, where call centers provide millions of people with modest-paying work and where surveys have shown automation could render over a million jobs obsolete. The change is sparking a debate in the Global South about what, if anything, they can do to prevent a mass workforce disruption.