What is Conversational AI?
Conversational AI is software that understands what a person says or types in their own words and replies in natural language. It combines speech recognition, a language model and speech synthesis to hold a two-way conversation, follow context and complete tasks such as booking an appointment.
How does conversational AI work?
On a phone call, each turn of the conversation goes through five steps:
- Speech recognition turns the caller’s audio into text as they speak.
- Language understanding, usually a large language model, works out what the caller wants and what information is still missing.
- Tools and rules let it act: check calendar availability, look up a customer, or follow your escalation rules.
- Response generation writes the reply, kept to your script and approved facts.
- Speech synthesis reads the reply aloud in a natural voice, and the loop repeats until the task is done.
In text channels such as chat and SMS, the first and last steps drop out; the middle is the same.
Conversational AI vs chatbots and IVR
Rule-based chatbots and IVR menus follow fixed scripts: the user picks from options the designer anticipated. Conversational AI handles open-ended input, interruptions and corrections (“actually, Thursday is better”). The trade-off is control. A scripted system can only say what was written; a conversational system needs clear instructions, approved facts and escalation rules so it stays accurate. That is why business deployments pair it with guardrails and a human fallback.
What does conversational AI cost?
Building conversational AI yourself means paying for speech, language-model and telephony usage, plus the engineering time to connect and test it. Packaged products such as AI receptionists usually charge a monthly rate with included minutes. See how much an AI receptionist costs and Keres AI pricing.
How does Keres AI handle it?
Remi is Keres AI’s conversational AI for the phone. It answers in two rings, 24/7, asks your intake questions in conversation rather than through a menu, books into Google Calendar, HubSpot or ServiceTitan, and escalates to a person by your rules. Calls Remi couldn’t take get a text back within 60 seconds. Remi answers in English today.
See the product behind this concept
Want to see Conversational AI working in practice?
See how Keres puts it to work for your vertical and workflow.
AI Receptionist
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone automatically, 24/7. The software greets callers in a na…
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
IVR (interactive voice response) is an automated phone system that greets callers with a recorded menu and routes them b…
Call Routing
Call routing is the set of rules that decides where an inbound call goes: to a person, team, location, queue or voicemai…
Lead Qualification
Lead qualification is the process of deciding whether an inquiry is a real fit for your business before your team spends…
Questions
Conversational AI — FAQ
Is an AI receptionist conversational AI?
Yes. An AI receptionist is a voice application of conversational AI built to answer business calls, ask intake questions and book appointments.
What is the difference between conversational AI and a chatbot?
A traditional chatbot follows a fixed script and a menu of options. Conversational AI understands open-ended language, keeps track of context and can complete tasks, though it still needs rules and approved facts to stay accurate.
Can conversational AI make mistakes?
Yes. It can mishear a word or misunderstand a request. Well-run systems read key details back to the caller, stick to approved information and hand unclear or sensitive calls to a person.
See Conversational AI working live
Book a free 30-minute call and hear Remi, Keres AI’s AI receptionist, answer, qualify and book a call.
Hear Remi on a callLast updated · Reviewed by the Keres AI team