Using AI to make phone calls when you hate making phone calls

You can hand routine business calls to an AI agent. You type what you need, the voice assistant calls, handles the menu and hold, and you get the answers and a written transcript. It works for bookings, hours, stock checks and quotes. When a business needs you personally, it can patch you in after the hold.

The short answer

Yes, you can let an AI agent make those calls. You write what you need the way you'd text a friend. A voice assistant makes the call, gets through the phone menu, waits on hold, asks your questions, and sends back the answers along with a written transcript of the whole call. You never have to pick up the phone.

Who this helps

Plenty of people put off calls. Some of the common reasons:

• Phone anxiety, or just dreading the back and forth
• ADHD, where a five-minute call turns into a week of "I'll do it tomorrow"
• Being deaf or hard of hearing
• Speaking English as a second language
• Working hours that overlap with the business's hours

The FCC has noted that AI calling can help people with disabilities, and its proposed AI calling rules include protections for those uses.

What you'd type

Pick something small first:

Call the pharmacy on Oak Street and ask if they're open on Thanksgiving and until what time.

Call Rudy's and book me a haircut Saturday morning with anyone. Name is Alex.

Call my dentist and ask to be put on the cancellation list for a cleaning in the next two weeks.

Your agent looks up the number, plans the call, and places it. You can go do something else.

What you get back

A written result you can read at your own pace. For the pharmacy example:

• Answer: Open Thanksgiving 9am to 3pm. Pharmacy counter closes at 2pm.
• Summary: Spoke with a staff member. No other notes.
• Transcript: every line of the call, so you can check exactly what was said.

If the business asks something unexpected

You don't get pulled onto the call. The question comes to your agent in text, and your agent either answers from what you already told it or asks you. You type back. The assistant waits about a minute. If there's no answer, it tells the business it'll call back. See what happens when the business asks something.

Calls that still need you

Banks, phone carriers, insurers and medical offices often need the account holder to verify who they are. The assistant won't give card numbers, Social Security numbers or passwords over the phone. For those calls you have two choices:

• Hold and patch in. The assistant does the phone menu and the hold, and calls you only when a real person is there. You skip the part most people hate. See hold and patch in.
• Get the info first. Have the assistant call and find out what they need from you, so when you do call, it's quick and you know what to say.

Making the call go well

• Keep it to one clear goal. "Book a haircut Saturday morning" works better than "see what they have."
• Give fallbacks. "Saturday morning, or Sunday afternoon if not" means fewer questions come back to you.
• Set limits. "Don't agree to more than $60" keeps the assistant from committing you to anything.
• Use your name. The assistant says it's calling on behalf of you, which sounds normal to the business.

More in write a good call goal.

What it costs

$1 per answered call, which covers the first 5 minutes, then $0.25 per minute. If nobody answers, you aren't charged. You add $10 the first time you place a call, and your balance never expires. See pricing.

Getting set up

You need an AI agent that can use tools, like Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. The agent list has one-step setup for each. If you've never done this before, how to give Claude a phone is the easiest place to start.

Questions