ElevenLabs' AI voice agents now handle 15 million conversations a week, so the robot on the phone is no longer a novelty

On 30 September ElevenLabs said its voice agents handle more than 15 million conversations a week, three times more than in February. AI on the phone is going mainstream, so it's time for a plan.

There's a decent chance the next 'how can I help you today?' you hear on a support line comes from software. On 30 September voice AI company ElevenLabs announced a share sale that values it at $22 billion, and the more useful part was its update on how much its AI phone agents are being used.

ElevenLabs says its ElevenAgents product now handles more than 15 million conversations a week, three times as many as in February. Revenue from the agents has also tripled since February, and the number of businesses running agents across several channels has doubled. The company says its voice agents resolve issues 31% faster than chat agents on average. Customers named include Stripe, Deutsche Telekom, insurer Admiral and DoorDash's SevenRooms, using them for sales support, customer service, insurance renewals and booking healthcare appointments. Enterprise customers make up 55% of its revenue.

Those are big names, but the jobs are familiar to any business with a phone that rings. Booking appointments, answering 'what are your hours?', taking a renewal. For a midsize business, the question is shifting from 'is this real?' to 'which calls would I hand over?'. Probably not the upset customer, and definitely not the one who has rung three times. More likely the call that goes to voicemail after 5 pm.

My advice: start with one narrow, after-hours job, like bookings or common questions, and give callers an easy way to reach a person. Listen to recordings for the first few weeks, check what it promises customers, and tell people they're speaking to AI. Remember too that the 31% figure is ElevenLabs' own number, so test it on your calls before you believe it.

AI on the phone is no longer a party trick. Done well, it means fewer missed calls. Done badly, it's a very polite voice saying 'I didn't catch that' four times in a row.