How to create your AI phone agent

An AI Receptionist is a virtual assistant that answers your business phone calls, holds natural conversations, and completes tasks like a human receptionist. Customers call your existing business number, the call is forwarded to the AI agent, and the agent uses advanced speech recognition and natural language processing to understand the caller and respond in a human-like voice. The agent learns your business from a knowledge base you upload during setup, so it can answer questions, take bookings, capture orders and route calls within minutes - not the days or weeks needed to train a human.

Alayic AI Receptionist plans start at £89.99 per month (approximately $119 USD or $169 CAD), with no contract and pay-monthly billing. You can create a free account and build a demo agent without paying anything - only choose a paid plan once you have heard the agent live. Higher tiers add more call minutes, additional voices, advanced integrations and contact-centre features. Full pricing details are on the pricing page.

Sign up at console.alayic.com, create your business profile, upload a knowledge base (FAQs, menu, prices, opening hours, policies), choose a voice and accent that fits your brand, and set basic call routing rules. Setup takes 15–30 minutes and your AI Receptionist is ready for test calls immediately. When you are ready to go live, choose a paid plan and forward your existing business number to the agent. Most customers are fully live within 3–5 working days.

Yes. The free Alayic account lets you build a complete AI Receptionist, upload your knowledge base, choose a voice and tone, and make unlimited test calls. No card details and no contract are required. You only pay when you forward a real business number to the agent and choose a paid plan, so you can hear exactly what your customers will hear before deciding.

Yes. Alayic works seamlessly with your existing phone number using call forwarding - there is no need to change your number, port out, or set up a new line. You keep the number you have advertised on your website, Google Business Profile and marketing. Customers continue dialling that number, and calls are routed instantly to your AI Receptionist. You can disable forwarding at any time to take calls manually.

Yes. Alayic integrates with simple booking systems like Calendly, restaurant booking platforms like Resos, many EPOS systems used by takeaways, hotels and salons, and standard CRMs and helpdesks (Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk patterns). For bespoke or in-house systems, our team can scope a custom integration during onboarding. Standard integrations are included on every paid plan.

Around 75% of callers hang up before they have waited two minutes on hold - every one of those is a lost booking, order or quote. An AI Receptionist answers calls instantly, 24/7, with no wait time. It provides accurate information drawn from your knowledge base, takes action (bookings, orders, callbacks), and never has a bad day, gets sick, or takes holidays. Every call is summarised and emailed or texted to you, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Alayic's AI Receptionists are designed for natural conversation: human-like voice, regional accents, empathy, and the ability to handle interruptions and follow-ups. Most customers describe the experience as being like a polite, well-trained member of staff. The days of robotic, pre-programmed automated voice menus are over - if you want to disclose that the call is handled by AI, you can configure the agent to do so explicitly.

Alayic's AI agents can take orders, book appointments, quote prices from your published rates, capture leads with full job details, send confirmations by email or SMS, schedule call-backs, and answer FAQs from your knowledge base. They can forward calls to human operators when needed, raise support tickets in your helpdesk, and escalate genuine emergencies (water leak, no heat, electrical hazard) to your mobile. Every call is summarised and delivered to you instantly.

Alayic provides industry-specific AI Receptionists for restaurants and takeaways, hotels, guest houses and Airbnbs, salons, spas and groomers, trade services (plumbers, electricians, builders, HVAC), contact centres, and small businesses generally. Each industry profile ships with relevant call types - bookings, orders, quotes, FAQs - and integrations with the EPOS or booking systems most common in that vertical.

No. Alayic's AI agents are designed to work alongside human team members, not replace them. The AI takes the calls humans cannot answer because they are with a customer in person, on a job, or off-shift. Owners and staff get back time for high-value face-to-face service while the AI handles routine inbound calls, after-hours coverage, and overflow during peaks. The result is more revenue captured, not fewer humans employed.

Alayic is a UK-headquartered AI phone answering company serving customers across the UK, United States and Canada directly, and worldwide via white-label partners. Pricing is shown in GBP, USD and CAD using a built-in currency switcher, and our AI Receptionists support natural English conversation in regional accents for each market. UK-based second-line support is included on all paid plans.