About voice AI agents

<body>
<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Voice AI agents enable intelligent, conversational phone support by automating end-to-end customer voice interactions. This feature lets incoming calls start with an AI agent and, when needed, escalate to a human agent. Every call creates or updates a Zendesk ticket for tracking, reporting, and handoff context.</p>
<div class="article-banners">
<div id="docs-wmp-link">
<a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What's my plan?</a>
</div>

<div class="article-banner" id="suite_all">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>All Suites</strong>
</td>
<td>Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div class="article-banner" id="support_with_talk_all">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Support with</strong>
</td>
<td>Talk Team, Professional, or Enterprise</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

</div>
<div id="docs-ai-summary">
<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can use a voice AI agent to automate phone support, answer routine questions, route calls, and hand off to a human with full ticket context, transcript, and summary. It creates or updates tickets for tracking and reporting, supports multilingual conversations, actions, and testing before launch, and helps reduce call volume, repeats, and after-call work.</p>
</div>

<div class="body">

<p class="p">Voice AI agents enable intelligent, conversational phone support by automating end-to-end
customer voice interactions. This feature lets incoming calls start with an AI agent
and, when needed, escalate to a human agent. Every call creates or updates a Zendesk
ticket for tracking, reporting, and handoff context.</p>
<p class="p">These AI agents are seamlessly integrated with Zendesk voice and are built on our <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8966284087066" target="_blank">agentic AI</a> technology, meaning you can take advantage of
procedures and actions you’ve already built. Voice AI agents can engage in
natural-sounding conversations with customers, including making small talk,
disambiguating between topics, providing AI-generated answers based on your existing
policies and procedures, and executing actions.</p>
<p class="p">Before deploying a voice AI agent, you can test the call experience from the AI agents
workspace. After a live test call, you can review the recording on the associated
ticket.</p>
<p class="p">Voice AI agents incur standard telephony usage charges, a charge for the time the AI
agent is connected to the call, and a call recording charge. Call recording is on by
default, but you can turn it off. Voice AI agent calls can also consume automated
resolutions. For current rates and billing details, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846483482" target="_blank">Zendesk Talk number availability and pricing</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9570369117338" target="_blank">About the automated resolutions tiers</a>.</p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="adv_voice_ai_agents__ul_ub5_ky2_d3c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_sll_fy2_d3c">Benefits</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_jz5_fy2_d3c">How it works</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_kt2_gy2_d3c">Limitations</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wxp_qx2_d3c">Best practices</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="p">Related articles:<ul class="ul" id="adv_voice_ai_agents__ul_llq_trq_jkc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8724978128282" target="_blank">Getting started with AI agents</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10488757995034#topic_czj_nx2_d3c" target="_blank">Creating an AI agent for voice</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_sll_fy2_d3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Benefits</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Voice AI agents offer multilingual, end-to-end voice automation for one of your
most important support channels. From greeting to issue resolution to conversation
wrap-up, voice AI agents provide an always-available first line of support for your
customers.</p>
<p class="p">Voice AI agents are best suited for the following types of use cases:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_sll_fy2_d3c__ul_x1d_k1f_d3c">
<li class="li">Account management</li>
<li class="li">Authentication</li>
<li class="li">Billing and payments</li>
<li class="li">Booking and reservations</li>
<li class="li">Call routing</li>
<li class="li">Troubleshooting</li>
<li class="li">FAQs</li>
<li class="li">Order management</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">If a customer needs to speak with a human, calls can be instantly routed to agents
based on omnichannel routing, tags, or actions. If a human agent is available, the
customer is transferred. If no human agent is available, the customer can leave a
voicemail.</p>
<p class="p">When escalating, voice AI agents provide a seamless handoff to human agents with
full context and conversation history. Escalated calls can be sent to human agents
in Agent Workspace with a full transcript, concise summary, and a detected intent,
so agents always start informed.</p>
<p class="p">Voice AI agents let you: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_sll_fy2_d3c__ul_qbv_l1f_d3c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Offer 24/7 phone support without adding staff.</strong> Provide 24/7 coverage
that automatically scales during peaks and off‑hours, without adding staff.
Reduce overtime and telephony costs by automating routine calls. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Resolve even complex calls and route right the first time.</strong> Replace
IVR menus with natural conversations that capture intent, verify identity,
and gauge urgency. Solve customer requests end to end, with
knowledge‑grounded answers and policy-aware actions. Escalate to human
agents only when needed, providing full‑context and reducing transfers and
repeats. Route by intent and caller profile to the right queue or expert,
cutting average handling time and after-call work. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Unify AI and CX for faster, more complete resolutions.</strong> Voice AI
agents are embedded in the Zendesk suite, so ticketing, knowledge, routing,
actions and analytics work as one. Call summaries with full context and
detected intent mean less work for human agents and lower average handling
time, eliminating the need for customers to repeat themselves. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Trust every resolution with full control and transparency.</strong> Add
instructions to AI agent responses, ensuring every resolution aligns to your
customer service needs. Stay in control with real-time visibility into your
AI agent’s chain of thought. Let AI agents operate autonomously and add
precision and control when needed. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_jz5_fy2_d3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">How it works</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When a caller dials your phone number, the voice AI agent answers and attempts to
resolve the caller’s request. If the voice AI agent: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jz5_fy2_d3c__ul_pnm_41f_d3c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Resolves the request</strong>, the call ends, and the ticket is updated. See
<a class="xref" href="#topic_ed5_my2_d3c">Call flow: Caller to AI agent</a> for details. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Can’t resolve the request</strong>, the call is escalated to your phone queue,
routing rules run, a human agent answers with full context, and finishes the
call. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_b14_ny2_d3c">Call flow: Escalation to human agent</a> for details.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Call flow: Caller to AI agent</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">All calls to the configured phone number first connect to the AI agent. </p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__ol_kby_q1f_d3c">
<li class="li">The call connects to the AI agent. </li>
<li class="li">An <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9204149016346" target="_blank">AI agent ticket</a> is immediately
created to log the call. </li>
<li class="li">The AI agent engages the caller and works to resolve the issue based
on your configuration: <ol class="ol" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__ol_dgy_r1f_d3c" type="a">
<li class="li">The AI agent detects the appropriate use case based on what
the caller says. </li>
<li class="li">Based on this use case, the AI agent chooses the best path
to solve the customer’s issue: <ol class="ol" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__ol_k3x_t1f_d3c" type="i">
<li class="li">Replying with small talk or a disambiguating
question. </li>
<li class="li">Retrieving an AI-generated answer from your existing
knowledge sources. </li>
<li class="li">Performing steps guided by a generative
procedure.<div class="note" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__note_y1z_51f_d3c">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> In cases
where the AI requires a bit more time to process a
caller’s query (for example, when calling APIs or
retrieving answers from knowledge sources), the
voice AI agent might use filler sentences similar
to the following to avoid long silences: <ul class="ul" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__ul_yxf_w1f_d3c">
<li class="li">“Hm, I’m looking for an answer now.” </li>
<li class="li">“Give me a second.” </li>
<li class="li">“Almost there.” </li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">Any ticket fields configured to be updated during the
conversation (including custom fields) are updated in real
time on the ticket. </li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">If the caller’s request is resolved by the AI agent, the call ends
and the ticket is updated with: <ul class="ul" id="topic_ed5_my2_d3c__ol_a14_x1f_d3c">
<li class="li">A full call transcript </li>
<li class="li">An AI-generated call summary </li>
<li class="li">A link to view the AI agent conversation in the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749580186" target="_blank">conversation logs</a>
</li>
<li class="li">Any other ticket fields updated by the AI agent </li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_b14_ny2_d3c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Call flow: Escalation to human agent</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If the AI agent can’t resolve the caller’s request, the call is escalated to
a human agent. </p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_b14_ny2_d3c__ol_amw_y1f_d3c">
<li class="li">The AI agent updates the ticket before escalation by: <ol class="ol" id="topic_b14_ny2_d3c__ol_xmk_z1f_d3c" type="a">
<li class="li">Posting the call transcript and a summary to the ticket to
prepare for handoff. </li>
<li class="li">Updating any other ticket fields you've configured to be
updated through actions. </li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">The AI agent sends the call to your queue for a human agent to pick
up.<p class="p">Standard phone number settings resume at this
point.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">If you’ve configured an <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408885628698#topic_vq2_1sf_yt" target="_blank">IVR greeting</a> or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821594650#topic_eft_dgd_yt" target="_blank">custom greeting</a>, the
caller hears it now. If you prefer not to play additional greetings
(to avoid double greetings after the AI agent handoff), configure a
one-second silent greeting in the Available agents greeting. </li>
<li class="li">The call is routed based on your configuration: <ul class="ul" id="topic_b14_ny2_d3c__ol_zy4_4bf_d3c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">If you use voice routing</strong>: If the AI agent updated the
Group ticket field during the conversation, that group is
prioritized for routing. If no group was updated, the call
routes to the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408885952922" target="_blank">group defined in the
phone number’s routing settings</a>. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">If you use omnichannel routing</strong>: Any ticket fields
updated during the AI agent conversation (for example, Group
or Skills) are used for routing. Your standard <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4828787357210" target="_blank">omnichannel routing
configuration</a> applies. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">The right agent is selected based on your routing configuration. The
agent sees the AI-generated summary on the ticket to get instant
context for a smooth handoff. </li>
<li class="li">The agent assists the caller and ends the call. </li>
<li class="li">A voice comment is posted to the ticket to capture the agent-caller
interaction. </li>
<li class="li">The agent can complete post-call work.<div class="note tip" id="topic_b14_ny2_d3c__note_j3x_rbf_d3c">
<span class="tiptitle">Tip:</span> If you have <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5524125586330" target="_blank">Zendesk Copilot</a>, it
can assist the agent with after-call tasks. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6170157307162" target="_blank">Using generative AI to create
call summaries and transcripts on tickets</a>.
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_kt2_gy2_d3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Limitations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Voice AI agents are not available with Talk Partner Edition (TPE).</p>
<p class="p">Voice AI agents are not intended to be used to evaluate and classify emergency
calls, or to dispatch or prioritize emergency first response services or
emergency healthcare patient triage systems.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wxp_qx2_d3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title7">Best practices</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When deploying a voice AI agent, keep the following best practices in mind: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_wxp_qx2_d3c__ul_krs_2ff_d3c">
<li class="li">Experiment with different <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357758773658#topic_kzp_tnf_52c" target="_blank">tone of voice settings</a> to optimize for
natural conversations. </li>
<li class="li">Use spoken, human-like phrasing in your dialogues and generative procedures.
Always read welcome and escalation dialogues aloud to check for a
natural-sounding flow. Avoid references to non-voice-friendly content, such as
URLs. </li>
<li class="li">In your escalation dialogue, add an AI agent message such as "Just a moment!" to
let the customer know the escalation is ongoing. </li>
<li class="li">Avoid duplicate greetings after escalating from the voice AI agent to a human
agent. Add a short, silent greeting <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821594650#topic_eft_dgd_yt" target="_blank">at the phone number level</a> if your
standard greeting isn’t desirable after an escalation. </li>
<li class="li">Use ticket field updates for smarter routing. Create actions that allow your AI
agent to set Group and Skills ticket fields during the conversation to drive
precise routing, which is especially powerful when used with omnichannel
routing. </li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/11179645912986" target="_blank">Perform test calls</a> that mimic real
customer scenarios.</li>
<li class="li">Periodically <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9510024609178" target="_blank">monitor the performance of your voice AI
agent</a>, occasionally listening to its call recordings or reviewing the
associated transcripts.</li>
<li class="li">Keep an eye on your voice channel billing information. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408825620378" target="_blank">Reviewing your voice usage
charges</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10169333291290",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10169333291290",
"headline": "About voice AI agents",
"description": "You can use voice AI agents to automate phone support, create or update tickets, and hand off unresolved calls to human agents with full context.",
"articleSection": "Creating AI agents",
"datePublished": "2026-01-13T23:06:08+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-09-01T12:53:30.449372+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10169333291290"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com",
"softwareAddOn": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "AI agents",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/8988994355994"
}
}
}</script><script id="ai-summary-script">
//<![CDATA[
const ai_summary_style = document.createElement('style');
ai_summary_style.innerHTML = `#styled-article-body{padding:0 0 0}#article-body #docs-ai-summary{background-color:#f3f3f3;border:1px solid #d3d3d3;padding:10px 10px 6px;margin-bottom:16px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle{font-size:.9em;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:4px;cursor:pointer;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #up-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px;display:none}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #down-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-content{font-size:.9em;padding-left:25px;padding-right:25px;margin-bottom:12px}`;
document.head.appendChild(ai_summary_style);

const toggleAISummary = () => {
const summary = document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-content");
const upTriangle = document.getElementById("up-triangle");
const downTriangle = document.getElementById("down-triangle");
if (summary.style.display === "none") {
summary.style.display = "block";
upTriangle.style.display = "none";
downTriangle.style.display = "inline";
} else {
summary.style.display = "none";
upTriangle.style.display = "inline";
downTriangle.style.display = "none";
}
};

document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-toggle").addEventListener("click", toggleAISummary);
//]]>
</script>
</body>