AI receptionist: how it works and what it costs
- An AI receptionist answers calls automatically: it greets, qualifies and takes messages.
- Its cost depends on the model: a fixed add-on (often pricey) or pay-as-you-go via your own AI key (BYOK).
- The right criterion isn't "is it AI" but "am I overpaying for the model behind it".
An AI receptionist is a voice agent that answers calls instead of a person: it greets the caller, understands the request, qualifies the need and takes a message or routes to the right person. It runs 24/7, no breaks, and costs a fraction of human reception — as long as you don't overpay for the AI model behind it.
Transparency: at Relay, the AI receptionist is in the works, not yet available. This article explains how the technology works in general and what to look for — we'll announce it when it's ready.
How does an AI receptionist work?
When a call comes in, the AI picks up, greets the caller and listens. It converts speech to text, understands intent with a language model, then responds, asks qualifying questions, and depending on the case takes a message, routes the call or schedules a callback. All in seconds, in natural language.
An AI receptionist combines three pieces: speech recognition (speech → text), a language model (understand and respond) and speech synthesis (text → voice). It greets the caller, qualifies the request and takes a message or routes the call, 24/7, with no human intervention.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
It depends entirely on the billing model. Many solutions sell the AI agent as a fixed add-on (often around $99/month) or per minute. The AI model's real cost is a fraction of that, though: the difference is margin. With a bring-your-own-key (BYOK) model, you pay the AI at its real rate.
It's the same logic as telecom: separate software from consumption. We cover it in detail in our guide to AI without overpaying (BYOK).
Compared to human reception (salary, hours, absences), an AI receptionist answers every call 24/7. But it doesn't replace humans for complex conversations: the right use is to filter, qualify and route — not to handle everything.
What to look for before choosing?
Four criteria: the cost model (fixed add-on vs pay-as-you-go BYOK), comprehension quality (languages, accents), the ability to route to a human when needed, and privacy (your conversations shouldn't be used to train a model). "Is it AI" matters less than "how is it billed and protected".
- Cost model: pay-as-you-go via your key (BYOK) rather than a big fixed add-on.
- Comprehension: your clients' languages and accents, handling of ambiguous requests.
- Handoff to a human: the AI must know when to pass complex calls along.
- Privacy: your calls aren't used to train a model; revocable key.
To choose an AI receptionist, four criteria dominate: the cost model (pay-as-you-go BYOK avoids the AI markup), multilingual comprehension quality, the ability to hand off to a human, and conversation privacy. Billing and data protection set good solutions apart, not just being "AI-powered".