Voice Agent
A voice AI system that listens, speaks, handles interruptions and executes tasks in real time.
In plain language
A voice agent combines ASR, dialogue management, tool calling and TTS; the hard parts are latency, interruptions, accents and noise. Human turn-taking is around 200 milliseconds, and delays over one second feel unnatural. Production systems use streaming recognition, end-to-end speech models and interruption recovery. They fit booking, support, outbound calls and front-desk reception, but high-risk commitments, refunds and medical advice should escalate. Evaluate task completion, average call duration and escalation rate, not just voice naturalness.
Example
A restaurant booking agent must understand “Saturday at seven, two people,” confirm a table and offer alternatives when unavailable.
Recommended tools
Related terms
AI Agent
An AI system that perceives a goal, plans steps, calls tools and executes tasks.
Automatic Speech Recognition
Converting speech into text.
Text-to-Speech
Converting text into natural-sounding speech.
Agent Memory
A mechanism for an agent to store and retrieve user preferences, past tasks and key facts across sessions.