In September 2023, Teleperformance — the world's largest call center outsourcing company with 410,000 employees — saw its stock crash over 30% in a single day after a research report argued that AI customer service agents could replace the vast majority of its workforce within years. The company, which handles customer service for major brands in 100 countries, had built a $15 billion business on cheap labor. It became the most dramatic single-day market signal that AI would devastate the outsourcing industry.