Your complete toolbox for building conversational AI

This blog post is Part Four of a four-part series where we discuss conversational AI and the developments making waves in the space.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is more than a buzzword. It's a transformative force reshaping how we work, live, and communicate. As the technology continues to advance, staying at the forefront of AI has become vital for businesses looking to outperform their competition.

Among the many advancements in AI, one area has captured widespread attention and seen rapid development: conversational AI.

In this blog post, we'll wrap up our exploration of conversational AI by exploring how Telnyx can empower you to create a cutting-edge conversational AI bot.

And if you want a refresher on the key features that can take your conversational AI from good to great, check out the other blog posts in our Crafting Conversational AI series:

1. HD voice codecs: Access to HD voice codecs through carrier-grade direct peering can make a huge difference when creating high-performance conversational AI tools.
2. Noise suppression: By filtering out irrelevant noise, noise suppression technology helps conversational AI have more realistic interactions.
3. Speech-to-text (STT) technology: The engine that makes conversational AI chatbots run. Highly accurate, real-time transcription is crucial for high quality conversational AI.

For an overview of these building blocks, check out our webinar on conversational AI.

What is conversational AI?

Conversational AI enables machines to understand, interpret, and respond to human language in a meaningful and contextually relevant way. It encompasses a range of technologies, including:

• Speech recognition—Translating spoken language into text
• Natural language understanding—Comprehending the meaning and intent of text
• Text-to-speech conversion—Turning text back into audible speech

No longer confined to simply answering calls and routing them to the appropriate customer service representative, conversational AI is evolving into something far more complex and engaging.

For example, Replicant, a contact center automation platform, used Telnyx to build their conversational AI technology. In doing so, they reduced their latency between conversation turns from over three seconds to less than one second. They also saved 86% on voice costs.

Below is a demo of what Replicant’s conversational AI can do.

Replicant & Aloha Airlines from Replicant on Vimeo.

The building blocks of conversational AI

Building conversational AI, particularly for voice-activated systems like telephony, requires a combination of technologies and tools that facilitate natural, human-like interaction. Below, we’ve included an overview of the essential components you’ll need to build conversational AI tools.

Language models and machine learning (LLM and ML)

The core of conversational AI lies in understanding and generating human language. Developers need to incorporate pre-trained language models or build custom models using machine learning. Tools like OpenAI's GPT-4 can help your conversational AI understand and generate natural-sounding text.

Telephony

To handle voice interactions, developers must integrate telephony services, which allow AI systems to manage voice calls. These services include receiving, processing, and transmitting voice data, enabling real-time communication between users and the AI system.

Leveraging VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) can provide more flexibility and cost-efficiency in managing voice connections.

Voice APIs

Voice APIs act as a bridge between your telephony service and the AI system, offering a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation, control, and management of voice calls. With a Voice API, developers can implement features like speech recognition, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and call routing.

Security and compliance

Building conversational AI requires adherence to various regulations and privacy standards, especially for industries like healthcare and finance. Developers must ensure data encryption, secure authentication, and compliance with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and other laws specific to their industries or regions.

Building conversational AI for telephony involves a multifaceted approach that integrates various technologies and considerations. The setup requires a blend of technical expertise and a deep understanding of human communication, from voice handling through telephony and voice APIs to language understanding with machine learning models.

Your choice of platforms, tools, and models can significantly impact the effectiveness and usability of your conversational AI system.

The benefits of building conversational AI with Telnyx

Named the most implementable Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) by G2, Telnyx is a leader in telephony and voice. You can build the highest quality voice into your conversational AI applications with our elastic SIP trunking and intuitive Voice API—and, of course, the help of our solutions engineers.

Here are some reasons why you should consider Telnyx as your voice provider.

Global numbers and easy porting

Every voice application requires numbers and SIP connections to conduct calls. Telnyx is a carrier in over 30 countries, with millions of local numbers that can be searched and provisioned in our Mission Control Portal for an easy setup. And our FastPort capability allows you to port North American numbers in just a few clicks.

High-quality, low-latency voice

For the most natural and human-like interactions, low-latency response times are key for conversational AI. With Telnyx’s global private network and over 15 points of presence (PoPs) around the world, your voice will travel over our privately owned fiber interconnects. These distributed private pathways provide our customers with a 66% reduction in talk-time latency for real-time AI voice responders.

Next-generation features

Along with our high-quality, low-latency voice capabilities, we’re on the cutting edge of new features that can take your conversational AI to the next level:

• HD voice codecs
• Noise suppression
• STT

In Fall 2023, Telnyx will be one of the only platforms that directly peers with major carriers so you can leverage HD voice. Better noise suppression is also on the horizon at Telnyx, along with the release of our new, highly accurate, and cost-effective STT engine.

Unbeatable prices

Access to cutting-edge technology shouldn't break the bank.The average customer saves 30% when switching from another provider to Telnyx, with lower list pricing and automatic volume discounts.

24/7 support and dedicated solutions engineers

Building next-gen conversational AI systems is hard enough work as it is. If you get stuck or need assistance, Telnyx offers all customers free, award-winning, 24/7 support. Our solutions engineers will work alongside you to build the voice application you need. We also have a robust library of developer documentation with easy-to-follow programmable voice tutorials and migration guides.

An unbeatable platform

Building the best conversational AI tools means building on top of the best platform. Telnyx was named Leader in CPaaS by G2, outranking other providers in categories such as results, customer support, and easy-to-use APIs. We were also awarded the Crowd’s Best Results Award, showing Telnyx is most likely to be recommended by its customers.

Partner with Telnyx to build next-generation conversational AI

Integrating AI into our daily dialogues reflects a future where technology doesn't replace human interaction but enhances it. Conversational AI has demonstrated its transformative potential across diverse industries, including customer service, healthcare, finance, travel, automotive, manufacturing, and education. Critical features like HD voice codecs, noise suppression, and speech-to-text technology will only improve these human-like interactions.

Whether you’re a developer, a business leader, or simply a technology enthusiast, the evolving world of conversational AI offers a fascinating landscape full of promise and potential. With the right tools, knowledge, and innovation, you can create a tool that facilitates seamless, meaningful machine-human conversation.

Telnyx's role as a front-runner in this space—offering groundbreaking solutions in voice technology—underlines the significance of choosing the right provider for optimizing conversational AI applications. With state-of-the-art features, cost-effective options, and 24/7 support, Telnyx embodies the future of voice communication. The impressive reduction in latency and voice costs for companies like Replicant shows the measurable impact you can achieve.

Contact our team of experts to start building conversational AI on Telnyx’s award-winning, easy-to-use Voice API.