Voice agent

What is a voice agent?

A voice agent is an AI agent that holds spoken conversations, such as answering inbound inquiries or confirming appointments. It listens and replies in speech, often while checking a calendar or CRM in the background. OpenAI's documentation describes designs ranging from one model handling audio end to end to a chain of separate speech and text steps. In the chained design, each step produces text that a company can inspect before the agent replies.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

In a services business, a voice agent can answer service requests after hours and book the visit while the customer is still on the line, which can affect who wins the work. It also speaks for your company, so someone should review what it tells customers about pricing and scheduling. Outbound use is regulated. The FCC has ruled that AI-generated voices count as artificial voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and it states that calls using them require the called party's prior express consent.

A mechanical services company with 12 technicians sets up a voice agent to answer its service line after 5 p.m. In the first month it handles 180 inbound requests, booking 95 visits straight into the dispatch calendar and transferring 20 urgent requests to the on-call manager. The other 65 callers leave details for a next-morning follow-up.