Earlier this month, after the Philippines government ordered a lockdown of its capital city to combat the coronavirus, many of the country’s vast network of call centers—which handle customer service for airlines, banks and other companies—ground to a halt. 

In the days since, Amazon has seen a huge swell in sales inquiries for a cloud-based call center service, Connect, which uses the artificial intelligence technology behind the company’s Alexa digital assistant to automate tasks typically handled by humans, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The companies contacting Amazon include everyone from airlines struggling to respond to customers canceling reservations to health care providers that need help answering questions about medical bills, the person said. The uptick in inquiries, which hasn’t been previously reported, is especially noteworthy because Amazon’s call center service has struggled with slow sales in the past.