AI Agents Now Make Phone Calls on Your Behalf

AI is now making the phone calls you've been putting off. Instinct and Meta are each rolling out or testing business-facing calling features in their AI assistants. An AI agent is an artificial intelligence program that performs tasks on a user's behalf, handling work across apps, websites, and linked accounts.

US AI startup Instinct moved first. With its 'Concierge' feature, announced by founder Noah Shinn on September 16, the AI personal assistant handles phone calls and other service-related tasks for users. Some early-access users are already being offered the ability to have the assistant call businesses directly.

Meta is testing a similar calling feature in its newly launched AI assistant, 'Muse.' Muse has become a widely used service with more than 3 million downloads, thanks to its feature for canceling unwanted subscriptions.

But the convenience comes with questions of control. To use Muse effectively, users must grant access to their personal bank accounts, credit cards, email, and text messages. Security and privacy concerns have also been raised about an AI that speaks and makes decisions under a user's name.

Both companies' features remain in early access and testing stages. It remains to be seen whether and how they will be rolled out to the general public. Ultimately, how much access to grant is up to each individual user.