美国催收产业正快速被 AI 取代。文中例子 Ben 被 AI 催收员 Eve 追讨已结清的 266 美元债务；作者指出，受通膨与薪资停滞挤压，逾期欠款正在上升，且美国法院中的催收案件数量达到 Michael Bovee 前所未见的高点。AI 催收的优势在于可 24 小时持续运作、同时大规模外呼，Kaplan Group 估计这个产业未来十年将逼近 160 亿美元规模。

多家新创已把这种自动化推到大规模：Altur 每月处理超过 250 万通债务相关电话；Domu 在 2026 年 3 月达到 7,000 万通月度接通电话。这些系统会依情境调整语气，甚至改变西班牙口音，并在遇到破产、疾病、家人死亡等「脆弱讯号」时转接真人。虽然业者强调遵守《公平债务催收实务法》，但法律风险仍高，因为错误披露债务就可能违法。

产业支持者认为 AI 比人类催收员更有耐心、也更少羞辱感，部分用户甚至愿意继续和机器人聊天；相对地，Yale 的 James Choi 认为，对 AI 承诺还款的约束感可能较弱。文章也指出，AI 不只用于追债，负债者也开始用 ChatGPT 或 AI 顾问撰写脚本、协商还款。整体趋势是：一端是 AI 追债规模化，另一端是欠债者也用 AI 自保，形成新的自动化攻防。

The U.S. debt-collection industry is being rapidly automated. In the article’s example, Ben is contacted by Eve, an AI collector, about a $266 debt that had already been settled. With inflation and stagnant wages squeezing households, delinquency is rising, and Michael Bovee says court collections are at the highest level he has ever seen. AI collectors can work nonstop and at massive scale; Kaplan Group estimates the sector could be worth nearly $16 billion within the next decade.

Several startups already operate at large volume. Altur handles more than 2.5 million debt-related calls per month, while Domu reached 70 million monthly connected calls in March 2026. These systems adapt tone by context, even shifting Spanish accents, and often transfer calls when bankruptcy or “vulnerability signals” such as illness or a death in the family appear. Companies say they comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, but the legal risk remains high because a mistaken disclosure could still be unlawful.

Supporters argue that AI collectors are more patient and less abrasive than human collectors, and some people even keep talking to them; Yale’s James Choi, however, says promises made to an AI may feel less binding than promises to a person. The article also notes a reverse trend: indebted consumers are using ChatGPT and other AI advisers to draft scripts and negotiate with creditors. The result is a two-sided automation race, with AI being used both to collect debt and to defend against collection.