# AI Receptionist

> An AI receptionist is an AI employee that answers phone calls and emails, handles common questions from your documents, books appointments and transfers calls that need a person to you. On CellCog it is hired in minutes, with its own inbox and its own phone number, a capability CellCog shipped in September 2026.

- Canonical (HTML): https://cellcog.ai/ai-employees/ai-receptionist
- Site index for agents: https://cellcog.ai/llms.txt
- Last updated: 2026-10-03

Every missed call is a customer who tried someone else. Your AI receptionist picks up on its own number, answers from your real information, books the appointment and tells you what needs you.

## See your AI Receptionist at work

- **Answers every call.** Its own number, its own voice. Each call is transcribed with a short summary.
- **Books the appointment.** It checks your calendar, offers open times and sends the confirmation.
- **Knows your business.** Hours, services, policies and FAQs live in your Drive. It answers from them, not from guesses.
- **Asks before anything unusual.** Refunds, exceptions and new commitments wait for your yes.
- **Tells you who called.** Who got in touch, what they needed, what is booked and which calls need you.

## What it does

- **Answers calls on its own number**: Picks up with its own voice and tells callers they are speaking with an AI employee.
- **Replies to email**: Answers routine questions from your inbox the same way it answers the phone.
- **Books appointments**: Checks the calendar you connect, offers open times and sends the confirmation.
- **Answers from your documents**: Hours, services and policies come only from what you upload.
- **Transfers calls to you**: When a caller needs a person right away, it puts the call through to your number.
- **Summarizes every call**: A transcript and a short summary for each call, so nothing is lost between calls.

## Set up in three steps

1. **Hire in one line.** "Hire a receptionist for our dental practice. Answer calls and book cleanings."
2. **Give it your answers.** Upload your hours, services and FAQs, and connect the calendar it books into.
3. **Choose its phone number.** Pick a number on your yes and share it with your customers.

## Works with your tools

Google Calendar, Gmail, Outlook, Calendly, Google Drive, Slack, HubSpot, Notion, and 1,500+ more tools.

## Nothing is promised without your yes.

- **Answers from your documents**: What it says comes from the information you gave it.
- **Exceptions come to you**: Refunds, special requests and anything new wait for your yes.
- **Every call on record**: Recorded and transcribed, with a summary you can read any time.

## What it won't do

- **One call at a time**: A second caller hears busy until the line frees up.
- **No texting yet**: It answers calls and email; text messages are not supported yet.
- **No made-up answers**: What isn't in your documents goes to you, not to the caller as a guess.

## Three ways to cover the front desk

| | Doing it yourself | An answering service | AI Receptionist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers calls | Between other work | Yes, from a script | Yes, from your documents |
| Books appointments | You | Takes a message | Books into your calendar |
| Replies to email | You | No | Yes |
| Summarizes each call | No | A message slip | Transcript and summary |
| Takes two calls at once | No | Yes | Not yet, one at a time |
| Transfers urgent calls | n/a | Yes | Yes, to your number |

## Things to ask it

- Here are 15 questions customers ask us most. Write clear, friendly answers based on our docs and format them as a customer-facing FAQ page.
- Draft polite email responses for these five common situations: refund request, hours inquiry, booking change, complaint, and partnership ask.
- Summarize these 30 incoming messages by priority and tell me which three need a same-day reply.
- Create a simple intake form for new client inquiries with the fields we need to route them correctly.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is an AI receptionist?

An AI receptionist is an AI employee that answers phone calls and emails, handles common questions from your documents, books appointments and transfers calls that need a person to you.

### Can it answer phone calls?

Yes. It gets its own phone number and answers every call with its own voice. Callers are told they are speaking with an AI employee at your business, and every call is recorded and transcribed for you.

### What happens when it doesn't know an answer?

It says it will check, and flags the call or email for you instead of inventing an answer. When a caller needs a person right away, it can transfer the call to your own number.

### Can it book appointments?

Yes. It checks the calendar you connect, offers open times, books the slot and sends the confirmation.

### Is an AI virtual receptionist the same thing?

Yes. An AI virtual receptionist answers your calls and messages remotely; on CellCog it also handles your email and keeps a task board of what it did.

### Can it take two calls at once?

No. It takes one call at a time, and a second caller hears busy. For a front desk that gets several calls at the same moment, plan for that.

### What does it cost?

You pay for the work, not the hire. Hiring is free. Each time your employee works, it spends credits from your account: on Flash, built for speed, a working session typically runs under $5. On Max, our deepest reasoning, the same session runs up to about $25. From there the cost depends purely on how much work you assign. Start free, no credit card needed, with 200 credits.

### How do I get started?

Click "Get started" to sign up and hire your AI Receptionist in minutes, or use "Talk to us" and our team will help you set it up.

Hire one: https://cellcog.ai/ai-employees/ai-receptionist