What is the Difference Between a Telephone AI Agent and a Voice AI Agent?

As technology evolves, we are introduced to innovations that once seemed unimaginable. A virtual AI-powered employee can now fully replace a human on the first line of technical support. Isn’t that impressive?

However, as artificial intelligence and digital technologies have advanced, customer support has split into two major channels: telephony and chat/app-based communication. Let’s discuss the difference between these channels and when each option is best.

Examples

AI Phone Agent receives incoming calls to a phone number; greets the caller, understands speech, checks an order in the CRM, transfers the call to a live operator when needed, makes outbound reminder calls, and can even schedule appointments.

A Voice AI Agent inside your mobile application answers questions by voice, displays buttons and links, requests geolocation, and opens the payment screen.

There’s a lot that can be said about the differences — so let’s move on to specific scenario examples.

What Exactly Is Different?

Let’s start with the communication channel.
A Telephone AI Agent operates in the phone network (naturally), including SIP/VoIP.
A Voice AI Agent, on the other hand, depends on a mobile app, chat, or the internet.

Next, integration.
A Voice AI Agent is most often integrated with a specific application or SDK/API.
A Telephone AI Agent is easiest to integrate with SIP trunks and Virtual PBX systems.

Now to data access.
A Telephone AI Agent needs only a phone number to identify a customer in the CRM. Additional verification by name can be added.
A Voice AI Agent can open a payment screen, execute OAuth authorization, and perform deeper in-app operations.

Where Can They Be Used?

For the AI Phone Agent, everything is straightforward: call centers, service lines, reminders/outbound campaigns, confirmations, reception services.

A Voice AI Agent offers wider possibilities within an application: onboarding, navigation assistance, device control, and more.

In Short

A Telephone AI Agent is a voice agent “packaged” in telephony (SIP): it receives and places calls to phone numbers, can hold/transfer calls, and follows call center rules.

A Voice AI Agent is broader: any assistant that understands and speaks (in an app, on a website, on a smart speaker, in a car). Telephony is only one of its possible channels.