AI Call Agents vs. Human Agents: How to Find the Right Balance

For call-dependent businesses seeking to manage high call volumes efficiently without overwhelming their sales team or compromising service quality, AI call agents integrated within their conversational AI call processing system offer an ideal solution. Phonexa’s AI Call Agents can transform your contact centre operations, delivering exceptional speed and accuracy that enhances your customer service capabilities.

However, it’s crucial to understand their limits. Whilst autonomous AI call agents serve as excellent complementary tools, even when they form the backbone of your call processing system, you must know when live operators should intervene to manage situations that require human expertise and judgement.

Although I am quite excited about Phonexa’s AI Call Agents—they are definitely a great asset for any company managing large call volumes—I want to be fair and impartial. Let’s have a fair conversation about when to use AI call agents and when you might be stretching their capabilities outside their best use cases.

But first, let’s briefly review the key points.

“Phonexa is end-to-end software built for performance marketing and affiliate marketing teams that are driving a high volume of consumer traffic. We help them track their affiliate marketing and performance marketing efforts in one place, allowing them to see their affiliate traffic alongside the different ways that their consumers are actually reaching out to them. This includes leads, calls, transactions, traffic from affiliates, and other inbound marketing sources.” – Oliver Koukoulis-Fribbens, Chief Sales Officer at Phonexa

Want to improve your contact centre operations and convert more callers? Book a demo to learn how Phonexa’s call centre AI can grow your business.

AI Call Agents Explained

An AI Voice or Call Agent is an autonomous software designed to support specific conversation flows based on preset parameters and real-time data gathered during each interaction.

➥ Phonexa’s AI Call Agents process real-time conversations, considering multiple call parameters to create the best journey for a given caller. In practice, AI captures as much information as possible from the caller while asking a minimal number of questions and avoiding duplication of previously answered questions. Then, the call is routed to a sales representative who matches the caller’s needs.

Through their unlimited processing capacity, continuous learning ability, round-the-clock availability, and remarkable accuracy, which offer clear benefits over conventional human-only methods, AI Call Agents outperform human agents in a variety of ways.

Types of AI Call Agents

Rule-Based AI Call Agents	Technically, AI call agents adhering to preset call scripts aren’t AI, but the term is still widely applied to such systems. Rule-based AI call agents answer simple questions but lack customer interaction and learning ability. One classic example is automated menu systems, such as “Press 1 to check your balance; press 2 to change your subscription; press 3 to talk with an adviser.”
Conversational AI Call Agents	Conversational AI call agents contextualise responses based on facts gathered during the contact to provide the best conversion path for the caller.

Depending on their type, AI call agents can have different capabilities:

• Recognise and understand the caller’s speech
• Communicate in multiple languages without delay
• Provide contextualised replies and routing, incorporating historical context
• Handle queries independently from live operators
• Effectively qualify, score, and nurture leads

Modern conversational AI systems, such as the one used in Phonexa’s Call Logic, combine several advanced capabilities. While contextualizing responses and actions in real-time based on continuous conversation data, Phonexa’s AI Call Agents ensure adherence to pre-designed communication infrastructure.

When Do Human Operators Outperform AI Call Agents?

Complexity in conversations significantly favours human operators over AI agents, despite AI’s impressive speech analysis capabilities. However, several additional factors beyond complexity determine when human intervention proves superior.

Here are the ten most popular AI use cases in contact centres globally:

Source: Statista

Now, let’s analyse some of these use cases:

	AI Call Agent Advantages	Live Operator Advantages
Voice Authentication	Instant identity verification if the speech is clear	Recognising distorted voices, background noise, speech problems, and possible fraud attempts
Call Automation	Structured and contextualised call routing at a general level	Handling complex and unusual calls that require case-by-case judgment and deviations from the rules.
Speech Analytics	Analysing large call volumes for intent, patterns, and compliance at a basic level	Understanding humour, sarcasm, colloquialisms, and cultural nuances, as well as distinguishing between shared meanings and degrees of intent
Transcription	Near-instant, cost-efficient transcription	Understanding several concurrent speakers, loud or noisy conversations, jargon, etc.
Sentiment Analytics	Analysing large-scale sentiment patterns and how the caller responds to them	Understanding the caller’s cultural and psychological background and nuanced contexts based on factors such as region, age, status, etc.

AI call agents often lack the human capacity for emotional intelligence, sophisticated problem-solving, cultural and linguistic subtlety, and scenarios that require personal judgment. And I’m not the only one rooting for people – the world’s largest corporations agree.

Here are real-world examples where brands favour human operators over artificial intelligence:

JP Morgan – Voice Authentication	AI voice agents can automatically authenticate voices. However, anomalies such as suspicious behaviour or voice mismatch, as well as high-value transactions, require human operators.
Emirates – Complex Travel Problems	AI handles common requests, such as flight bookings and refunds, whereas operators handle emergency circumstances, including complex aircraft re-routing across multiple airlines.
Mayo Clinic – Speech Analytics	AI call agents can book appointments, while doctors, nurses, and support staff can assess the urgency of each case based on speech tone, hesitancy, and other nonverbal cues.
State Farm – Image Recognition	AI may not always effectively analyse vehicle accident damage from photos, resulting in illegitimate or outright fraudulent claims (for example, using AI-generated images).
Amazon – Language Translation	AI may occasionally misunderstand slang, jargon, and dialects, especially in complex languages such as Chinese, which is why human operators are involved in handling high-value cases.
Ritz-Carlton – Emotional Recognition	AI can handle hotel reservations, but sometimes, having a real person on the phone is necessary. For example, when a guest is upset, the apology call should be made by the hotel staff, not the robot.

The direction is clear: although total replacement of human agents is still debatable, AI call agents keep evolving. On the other hand, a combination of the two is usually far more effective than a human agent handling a call without any assistance from AI.

Build your plan now, or book a demo to learn how to combine Phonexa’s call centre AI solutions and live operators.

When Are AI Call Agents Better than Human Operators?

AI call agents match rather nicely with modern customer experience goals and operational priorities.

Leaders in customer service pinpoint these four main strategic goals to improve the quality of services:

• Increasing general customer satisfaction levels
• Establishing strong self-service capacity
• Increasing automation across service lines
• Shortening consumer service response times

The best AI Call Agents can do it all: recognise the caller’s intent, keep the conversation moving, and eventually direct the caller to a conversion or the best-matching live operator.

Source: Statista

In these operational areas, AI call agents show regularly better performance:

• Quick responses and quick problem fixing
• Handling many concurrent calls simultaneously
• Constant 24/7 running free from performance degradation
• Excellent multilingual communication skills
• Negligible continuous running expenses

AI agents can be either a useful addition or a possible replacement for human operators when your company uses consistent, predictable call patterns. However, for consumers who need individual attention and sophisticated problem-solving, maintaining access to tailored personal interaction remains vital.

Will AI Call Agents Replace Live Operators?

Complete replacement of human operators whilst maintaining service quality standards seems unlikely unless technology advances to hitherto unheard-of degrees. Essentially, artificial intelligence systems, which comprise synthetic materials, metals, and silicon, operate under fundamentally different principles from natural human cognition and emotional processing.

Given these basic differences between artificial intelligence systems and human operators, rushing toward total replacement would be premature. Although AI technology offers remarkable capabilities for various applications, strategic decision-making relies on an understanding of its inherent limitations.

Phonexa’s AI Call Agents for Intelligent Call Routing

Among companies handling inbound and outgoing call operations, Phonexa’s contact centre software, Call Logic, has shown especially popularity. The AI call agent integration of the platform further enhances these features by offering autonomous request handling and continuous business availability.

Here’s what AI Call Agents can do within Call Logic’s IVR system:

Industry-Specific Call Flows	Phonexa’s AI Call Agents are trained to conduct conversations in industry-specific contexts, ensuring unsurpassed intent understanding and response precision. In practice, you can choose a ready-made template for your niche and customise it as needed.
Round-the-Clock Business Availability	With AI Call Agents, your company can be reached at any time, regardless of time zone. Besides, AI Call Agents may deliver basic information and handle simple requests on the spot. This allows you to be cost-effective without overburdening sales and support representatives.
Improved Personalization	AI Call Agents, which take into account real-time user input, allow you to personalise interactions while handling multiple calls at the same time. You can maximise the versatility of your system by creating a custom tree of responses using Call Logic IVR.
Enhanced Communication	Callers can use voice commands or touchpad options to communicate on the go. Similarly, you can add any custom IVR voice, including your brand voice.
Enhanced Call Routing	With AI Call Agents, call routing is no longer predetermined but rather dependent on the conversation. For example, if the AI determines that the caller needs customer assistance, the system will route them to a relevant customer support professional rather than a sales rep, even if that was the initial route.
Pre-Launch Testing for Safe Launch	As a Phonexa user, you may try out our conversational AI and call agents before updating your call flows. You can put yourself in the caller’s shoes and customise the IVR system to ensure the best possible experience.

The best aspect is that Call Logic IVR is not a standalone piece of software, but rather a component of Phonexa’s all-in-one performance marketing software suite, which works hand in hand with seven other products, including LMS Sync. Free data flows enable you to maximise your lead distribution potential by guiding online and call leads to the best buyer.

 

Similarly, you can implement AI Call Agents without affecting your current call flow. AI Call Agents, which are added to Phonexa’s IVR system as customisable blocks, automatically capture the configurations of the associated Call Logic products, providing a personalised call progression for each caller.

Take a product tour to experience Phonexa’s all-in-one performance marketing software suite.

Your All-in-One Performance Marketing Software Suite to Handle Calls and Web Leads

Despite the excellence of our conversational AI and call agents within Call Logic, this addresses only one marketing channel—phone calls—whilst your business likely requires comprehensive coverage of email, social media, SMS, referral, affiliate, and potentially traditional marketing campaigns.

This is why we made sure Call Logic works seamlessly with the rest of our products. In simple terms, you receive a best-in-class all-in-one performance marketing ecosystem capable of easily covering all marketing aspects across touchpoints and interactions. At the same time, all of this data is consolidated into a single dashboard, keeping you informed and in control of your business.

“Put everything in one place – that’s what we tried to do. Phonexa is about tracking everything – the call outcomes, the source of the calls, the route that the call went through, which publisher it came from, which IVR model it went through, which buyer bought the lead, and what happened next – and then reporting on everything to the point where you can then analyze it in real-time.” – David Pickard, Global CEO at Phonexa

Finally, our improved Ping Post Calls 2.0 ensures efficient conversion of gathered caller and campaign insights into optimal buying or selling opportunities with trusted partners at the most favourable rates.

 

Get Phonexa’s eight proprietary solutions at a single price (online pricing calculator):

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you create an AI agent?

Phonexa’s Call Logic enables simple drag-and-drop implementation of pre-built AI agent responses, or you can develop completely custom responses. Regardless of your approach, Phonexa’s AI call agents integrate seamlessly into Call Logic IVR as modular blocks without requiring call flow reorganisation.

When should I use AI agents?

AI agents excel in numerous applications, particularly routine tasks requiring minimal human intervention: basic customer support, automated fraud detection, lead distribution, and operations involving data collection, processing, and analytics. Across industries, AI agents prove especially valuable in finance, banking, insurance, and digital business sectors.

Will AI replace human agents?

Not precisely. AI serves to augment rather than replace human agents. Consider AI as a human enhancement tool—handling repetitive, routine tasks whilst enabling people to concentrate on complex problem-solving, creativity, and human connection, capabilities that machines cannot replicate. As industry experts observe, regardless of available computing power, human insight remains essential for providing purpose and meaning to work. Consequently, AI achieves optimal results working collaboratively alongside people rather than replacing them entirely.