What is a Voice agent?
A voice agent is an AI system that holds spoken conversations over phone or web, combining speech-to-text, a language model and text-to-speech to understand callers and reply in real time.
In more detail
The usual pipeline has three parts. Speech-to-text converts the caller's audio into text. The model decides what to say and which tools to call, such as looking up an order or booking a slot. Text-to-speech speaks the reply. Some newer systems use speech-to-speech models that skip the text step. Latency is what makes voice hard. Pauses over about a second feel awkward, so engineers tune for a fast first word and handle interruptions. It also needs telephony, consent for call recording and a way to transfer to a person. Uses range from inbound reception to outbound reminders. We usually start with inbound, narrow call types.
Example
A dental group's voice agent confirms next-day appointments by phone. If the patient wants to cancel, it frees the slot and offers the next opening. Anything about symptoms or billing transfers to the front desk.