Bears Target Teleperformance, One of First AI Victims

Speculators are again ramping up bets against call-center operator Teleperformance SE’s shares, wagering that the French company’s business will suffer further from the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence tools.

Teleperformance’s shares out on loan — an indication of short selling — have risen to 6.4% of the stock available for trading from 3.8% in late January, according to S&P Global Securities Finance data. That’s well above the average short interest of 2.4% for European technology-services companies, the data show.