AT&T is testing an agentic artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital receptionist that the company says has the potential to significantly reduce the headaches caused by phone spam and fraud.
AT&T says that the system relies on multiple large language models (LLMs) and its long history dealing with fraud and other malicious types of calls. An advantage of the AT&T AI receptionist is that it is built into the network and does not rely on the user’s phone or use its resources.
As the name implies, the service — which is rolling out to “select customers” this year — has a conversation with callers to determine whether they are legitimate or spam.
The AT&T AI receptionist will ask normal questions, such as “Who may I say is calling?” and “What is this in regards to?” The call is let through if the responses fulfill the requirements set by the user. The system can complete rudimentary tasks such as taking a message or accepting a delivery window on its own.
The agent will either take a message or disconnect if the caller refuses to identify themselves, is a wrong number, or fails to meet the user’s criteria. The user can watch a live transcript and pick up the call at any time. They can assess a text summary and determine whether or not to call back. The user will have a “do not screen” list for doctors, family members, and others.
AT&T declined a request from Telecompetitor to do a trial of the AI receptionist technology.
In May, Cisco released results from a large global survey on agentic AI. The bottom line is that human relationships are vital. Indeed, 96% of respondents reported that human relationships are very important when interacting with their technology partners.
In February, Anil Jain, the Global Managing Director, Strategic Consumer Industries at Google Cloud, told Telecompetitor that generative and agentic AI provides more real-time data than any person can handle alone. The ability to process that data using AI leads to discoveries and solutions that a person could not contemplate achieving alone.
