Caller identity application Truecaller is introducing an artificial intelligence-led feature called Truecaller Assistant that can be trained to answer calls on behalf of the user as one of its suite of products, the company said. The digital assistant is based on the cloud and is now capable of conversation in Hindi, English, and the Indianised ‘Hinglish’ languages, Rishit Jhunjhunwala, managing director, Truecaller India. “Think of this as an answering machine, but for smartphones, and it's interactive. The user needs to set up the assistant and set up the call forwarding. While the assistant attends the call, the user can access the live transcript of the conversation on the app,” Jhunjhunwala said.

The solution was initially launched as Call Hero by a company of the same name that Truecaller then acquired. Post-acquisition, the Call Hero functionality was integrated into Truecaller and is now called Truecaller Assistant. It was initially launched in the US where the formal Call Hero has a presence and has since been launched in different markets.“While Truecaller has been able to help (consumers) identify spam calls, users still have to experience answering these calls in some cases. This solution aims to reduce such experiences by delegating the task of answering suspected pesky calls,” Jhunjhunwala added.

The feature allows the user to take control of the call mid-way in case it is an important call, or they feel the need to answer it personally. The virtual assistant is currently available on Android in the country and will expand to the iOS ecosystem in the coming months. It will also feature more languages, Jhunjhunwala said. While the app works with Indian telcos for several caller identity and verification solutions, like the recently launched SMS verification feature, in this case, it did not need to since the assistant is housed entirely on the cloud. The cloud infrastructure, though, is developed from market to market to comply with local regulations, Jhunjhunwala said.

India is the largest market for Truecaller, accounting for 255.4 million monthly active users of the application out of the global 355.6 million in the April-June quarter. India is also the highest contributor by geography to the Swedish company’s net sales at SEK 412.9 million (Swedish Krona) or Rs 321 crore, contributing 79.6% to the global revenue. Treucaller has three streams of revenue in India advertising on the app, premium subscriptions, and enterprise (under Truecaller for Business).