Optus AI-powered Call Effects will add some fun to your phone calls

Optus has revealed new and interesting ways to spice up your phone calls with the introduction of Call Effects – an AI powered voice function to make conversations more entertaining.

Part of the Optus Living Network, Optus Call Effects adds a touch of fun to your standard phone calls with a series of playful skills.

These include flipping a coin to make a decision, asking a crystal ball to get an answer to your questions, making a decision on where to go for dinner and asking 21 questions to really get to know someone.

These skills use AI-driven Natural Language Understanding technology during your calls to make them a little more colourful.

That’s the same technology Optus employs for Optus Call Translate an Optus Call Notes.

Users can enable Optus Call Effects in the My Optus app and can trigger a voice skill on any call on the Optus network simply by saying “Hey Optus”.

The service we’ll launch with four skills to begin with more planned for the future.

These are:

– Crystal Ball – Request answers to life’s deepest questions;

– Coin Toss – Flip a coin and let fate decide;

– Dinner Roulette – Can’t decide what to eat? Spin the wheel;

– 21 Questions – Get to know each other.

“As part of creating an innovative network experience, our latest Living Network feature uses AI technology in the traditional phone call, delivering a fun experience exclusively for our customers. Messaging has emojis, video has AR filters, and now phone calls on the Optus network have Call Effects,” says Matt Williams, Optus managing director, marketing and revenue.

“Our advanced calling features in the Living Network to date, Optus Call Translate and Optus Call Notes, solve specific challenges, but Optus Call Effects is all about just having some fun. As the product evolves, we plan to add more new experiences.

“Optus Call Effects is another innovative solution that is adaptive to customers’ needs and enables unique experiences in the moments that matter to them.”

Optus Call Effects is free and available to all customers on the Optus network with a post-paid plan. It will be available to pre-paid customers later this year.