Creating an AI agent for the voice channel (EAP)


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 a Zendesk ticket for tracking, reporting, and handoff context.


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Voice AI agents are currently in an early
access program (EAP). You can sign up for the EAP here. You must have a
Zendesk voice plan.

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 a Zendesk ticket for
tracking, reporting, and handoff context.
These AI agents are seamlessly integrated with Zendesk voice and are built on our agentic AI technology, meaning you can take advantage of
procedures and actions you’ve already built. They 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 even executing actions.
This article contains the following topics:

About voice AI agents
Signing up for the voice AI agents EAP
Creating a voice AI agent
Configuring a voice AI agent
Connecting an AI agent to Zendesk voice
Testing a voice AI agent
Monitoring the performance of a voice AI agent
Best practices for deploying a voice AI agent

Related article:

Configuring multi-language support for voice AI
agents



About voice AI agents

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.
Voice AI agents are best suited for the following types of use cases:

Account management
Authentication
Billing and payments
Booking and reservations
Call routing
Troubleshooting
FAQs
Order management

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.
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.
Keep reading to learn more about voice AI agents, including:

Benefits
How it works
Limitations and pricing



Benefits

Voice AI agents let you:


Offer 24/7 phone support without adding staff. Provide 24/7 coverage
that automatically scales during peaks and off‑hours, without adding staff.
Reduce overtime and telephony costs by automating routine calls.

Resolve even complex calls and route right the first time. 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.

Unify AI and CX for faster, more complete resolutions. 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.

Trust every resolution with full control and transparency. 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.




How it works

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:


Resolves the request, the call ends, and the ticket is updated. See
Call flow: Caller to AI agent for details.

Can’t resolve the request, the call is escalated to your phone queue,
routing rules run, a human agent answers with full context, and finishes the
call. See Call flow: Escalation to human agent for details.



Call flow: Caller to AI agent

All calls to the configured phone number first connect to the AI agent.


The call connects to the AI agent.
A ticket is immediately created to log the call.
The AI agent engages the caller and works to resolve the issue based
on your configuration:
The AI agent detects the appropriate use case based on what
the caller says.
Based on this use case, the AI agent chooses the best path
to solve the customer’s issue:
Replying with small talk or a disambiguating
question.
Retrieving an AI-generated answer from your existing
knowledge sources.
Performing steps guided by a generative
procedure.
Note: 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:
“Hm, I’m looking for an answer now.”
“Give me a second.”
“Almost there.”





Any ticket fields configured to be updated during the
conversation (including custom fields) are updated in real
time on the ticket.


If the caller’s request is resolved by the AI agent, the call ends
and the ticket is updated with:
A full call transcript
An AI-generated call summary
A link to view the AI agent conversation in the conversation logs

Any other ticket fields updated by the AI agent







Call flow: Escalation to human agent

If the AI agent can’t resolve the caller’s request, the call is escalated to
a human agent.


The AI agent updates the ticket before escalation by:
Posting the call transcript and a summary to the ticket to
prepare for handoff.
Updating any other ticket fields you've configured to be
updated through actions.


The AI agent sends the call to your queue for a human agent to pick
up. Standard phone number settings resume at this
point.

If you’ve configured an IVR greeting or custom greeting, 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.
The call is routed based on your configuration:

If you use voice routing: 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 group defined in the
phone number’s routing settings.

If you use omnichannel routing: Any ticket fields
updated during the AI agent conversation (for example, Group
or Skills) are used for routing. Your standard omnichannel routing
configuration applies.


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.
The agent assists the caller and ends the call.
A voice comment is posted to the ticket to capture the agent-caller
interaction.
The agent can complete post-call work.
Tip: If you have Zendesk Copilot, it
can assist the agent with after-call tasks. See Using generative AI to create
call summaries and transcripts on
tickets.







Limitations and pricing

Voice AI agents are not available with Talk Partner Edition (TPE).
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.
Usage of voice AI agents is billed based on:


Minutes used: See Zendesk Talk number availability and
pricing.

AI agent connection charges: An additional per-minute charge applies
when the AI agent is connected to a call. Charges accrue only for the time
the AI agent is active on the call. Current rates per minute:
USD: $0.005
GBP: £0.0033
EURO: €0.0042
BRL: R$0.036



Automated resolutions consumed: See About automated resolutions for AI
agents. For a voice AI agent, an automated resolution is consumed
for any call for which both of the following are true:
Was not escalated to a human agent.
Passed verification performed by our LLM. The verification process
evaluates the content of the conversation immediately following the
call to ensure that the customer’s request was actually
satisfactorily resolved without human-agent intervention.
Conversations that don’t pass this verification are not considered
automated and do not consume an automated resolution.



The pricing and packaging for voice AI agents are subject to change following the
conclusion of the EAP.




Signing up for the voice AI agents EAP

If you have a voice plan, you can sign up for the voice AI agents EAP by filling out this form. We’ll review your submission and, if approved,
enable the EAP in your account within a few days.



Creating a voice AI agent

Client admins can create a voice AI agent in the AI agents workspace.
To create a voice AI agent


In the AI agents workspace, click
AI agent management in the sidebar, then select Create AI
agent.
In AI agent name, enter a descriptive name for your AI agent.
In Channel, select Voice.
In Industry, select one of the following options that best fits the
industry the AI agent will be used for:

Airline


Gaming


Telecommunication


E-Commerce


Banking


Other
If your exact industry isn't available as an option, select the
closest fit. This setting impacts benchmarks and other
industry-related settings throughout your account.



In Select language, select the language your AI agent should
use. You can add more
supported languages later.

In Locale, select a locale to determine the AI agent’s vocabulary and
accent. For example, if you add French as a supported language, you
can choose a locale of France or Canada. The locale affects the AI
agent’s phrasing, word choice, spelling conventions in transcripts, and
spoken pronunciation during conversations.

In Icon, select an icon that should be associated with the language
you selected.
Click Create.



Your AI agent is created, but it won’t interact with your customers until you connect it to a Zendesk voice
line.



Configuring a voice AI agent

After you create your voice AI agent but before you make it live for customers,
perform the following tasks to configure how it behaves:

Configure the AI agent's identity
Import a knowledge source to power AI-generated answers
Create use cases to identify customer requests'
Create generative procedures or dialogues to control responses
Add multi-language support (Optional)
Create actions, entities, and API integrations to increase automation (Optional)
Create instructions to influence AI agent responses (Optional)
Configure additional AI agent settings to fine-tune behavior (Optional)



Configure the AI agent's identity

Identity refers to how an AI agent presents itself to your customers. An AI
agent’s identity gives it a name as well as the context of who it’s working for
(your company) and what your company does (your business profile). For voice AI
agents, an agent’s identity also controls the AI agent’s voice, including
whether it sounds male or female and what accent it uses.
See Customizing an AI agent’s
identity.



Import a knowledge source to power AI-generated answers

For an AI agent to respond to customer questions with AI-generated answers, it
must have access to at least one knowledge source. The knowledge source can be a
help center, Confluence site or space, CSV file, or web-crawled website.
See Importing knowledge sources to power
generative replies in AI agents.



Create use cases to identify customer requests'

Next, create use cases that allow the AI agent to understand customer requests
and follow the correct generative procedures or dialogues (see the next
section). If you don’t create any use cases, the AI agent forms responses using
only the content of your imported knowledge source.
Using use cases, you can create a sort of “conversational IVR,” meaning the AI
agent can disambiguate and clarify customer requests and direct them to the
right use case. From there, you can decide whether to solve the request using a
procedure or simply triage directly to the appropriate team.
See Creating use cases for AI agents to identify
what customers are asking about.



Create generative procedures or dialogues to control responses

The most powerful step in AI agent setup is to create generative procedures.
These procedures should reflect your business policies so that the AI agent can
resolve customer requests in line with your policies. For all use cases except
the welcome and escalation system replies, you’ll create
generative procedures.
See Creating generative procedures for AI agents
with agentic AI.
However, for the welcome and escalation system replies, you’ll create dialogues
that allow the AI agent to respond to customer requests according to scripted
conversation flows.
See Creating conversation flows in the dialogue
builder for AI agents.



Add multi-language support (Optional)

You can add and activate additional supported languages to your AI agent so that
it can converse with your customers in the languages they prefer. You can also
select a locale to determine the AI agent’s vocabulary and accent.
The AI agent initially answers calls in the language set as your default, but
customers can ask the AI agent to change to a different supported language
during the course of the conversation.
See Configuring multi-language support for voice
AI agents.



Create actions, entities, and API integrations to increase automation (Optional)

To leverage helpful details in either generative procedures or dialogues, you can
create:


Actions that allow the AI agent to perform actions based on the
details of the session or your customer relationship management (CRM)
system. For example, you can enrich the ticket with tags, custom fields, or
group assignments that route tickets to the right agents when escalating.
See Creating and adding actions for AI
agents.
Note: When creating an action, pick
“Zendesk Voice” as the Target and “Update call” as the Task. You can
then define a field to update with a specified value.



Entities that hold pieces of information in customer messages that
have specific meaning, such as the user’s email address. See Creating entities in conversation flows
for AI agents.

API integrations that leverage information from other backend systems
you use during your workflows. To create these API integrations, you use the
integration builder. See About the integration builder for AI
agents.
Note: For APIs to be used by an AI
agent at the right time and in the right context, it’s extremely
important to add a clear description to your APIs while building them in
the integration builder.





Create instructions to influence AI agent responses (Optional)

Instructions let you tailor an AI agent’s responses in ways beyond customizing
their persona, tone of voice, and pronoun formality. For example, you can create
instructions that tell your AI agents to use or avoid specific terminology, or
to respond in specified ways to particular customer messages.


Note: It’s not recommended to create instructions that
direct an AI agent to speak with an accent. Instead, use the Locale in the
AI agent's language settings.

See Using instructions to influence AI agent
responses.



Configure additional AI agent settings to fine-tune behavior (Optional)

At any point, you can always continue configuring the AI agent’s settings. See
Accessing and viewing settings for AI
agents.




Connecting an AI agent to Zendesk voice

After you create and configure your AI agent, you must connect it to a Zendesk voice
line before it can begin interacting with customers. The instructions below assume
you’ve already created a voice AI
agent and added a phone line or digital line for voice.
To connect an AI agent to Zendesk voice


In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Talk and email > Talk.
Select the Lines tab.
Click your phone line.

Select the Routing tab.
Select Turn on AI agent.
In Select an AI agent, select the AI agent you created
above.

Click Save changes.


Your voice AI agent is now the first responder on the selected voice line.



Testing a voice AI agent

Voice AI agents can be tested in production or sandbox environments, but not in the
test widget.
To test a voice AI agent



Use the call console in Agent
Workspace to call the line connected to the voice AI agent.
Interact with the AI agent as a customer would.
To test your escalation flow, use a second device or an incognito browser to
receive handoffs.





Monitoring the performance of a voice AI agent

The final and ongoing step in creating a voice AI agent is to monitor its performance
and continue to improve its efficiency. The Reporting dashboard gives you insights
into key automation metrics, reports on the value of AI agent outcomes, and helps
you make data-driven decisions to improve future efficiency.
To monitor the performance of a voice AI agent


In the AI agents workspace, click
Reporting in the sidebar.
Select either the Overview or Contact reasons tab.
Click the AI agent filter and select your voice AI agent. For more
information about the reports, see Analyzing AI agent performance with
the reporting dashboard.
Tip: Alternatively, you can click the Channel filter
and select Voice to filter the results in the KPIs on the
Overview tab only.






Note: BSAT is not supported for voice AI agents and therefore
doesn’t return any scores.

Automated resolutions in the voice channel are also reflected in the Automated resolutions dashboard in Admin
Center.
Additionally, every call generates or updates a Zendesk ticket. AI transcripts,
summaries, and the link to the AI conversation are stored on the ticket. Tickets are
reportable in Zendesk analytics, so you can view the Zendesk Voice dashboard or create custom reports to track volumes, outcomes, and
handoffs.



Best practices for deploying a voice AI agent

When deploying a voice AI agent, keep the following best practices in mind:

Experiment with different tone of voice settings to optimize for
natural conversations.
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.
In your escalation dialogue, add an AI agent message such as "Just a moment!" to
let the customer know the escalation is ongoing.
Avoid duplicate greetings after escalating from the voice AI agent to a human
agent. Add a short, silent greeting at the phone number level if your
standard greeting isn’t desirable after an escalation.
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.

Perform test calls that
mimic real customer scenarios.



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