Glossary
What is an AI agent and what does it do
An AI agent is the next step after the chatbot. Instead of only answering questions, it works toward a goal, like qualifying a customer or booking a time slot, using the tools the company has allowed.
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The short answer
An AI agent is an artificial intelligence system that receives a goal, talks, makes decisions and takes actions to reach it. In support and sales, it replies to the customer, understands what the person wants, looks up company information and acts, for example by booking an appointment or passing the conversation to a salesperson.
Chatbot, assistant and agent
| Type | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Menu chatbot | Follows a fixed script of options | Type 1 for sales, 2 for support |
| AI assistant | Understands and answers free text questions | Explains the company's prices and hours |
| AI agent | Pursues a goal and takes actions | Sees the open calendar and books the slot in the conversation |
What an AI agent does
- Answers the customer at any hour, in the company's tone
- Understands the message even when it comes as a voice message
- Asks the right questions to qualify the contact
- Looks up company data, like services, prices and open slots
- Takes an action, like booking an appointment
- Recognizes when the topic needs a person and hands over the conversation
AI agent as an SDR
An SDR is the professional who makes first contact and qualifies before passing the customer to the salesperson. An AI agent does this role very well: it replies right away, asks what the customer needs, finds out whether they are ready to buy and hands the conversation to the salesperson with everything recorded. The salesperson arrives knowing the context and spends their time on people with real intent.
What makes an agent trustworthy
- Answering only with the information the company filled in
- Following clear rules about what it must never promise
- Knowing when to bring in a person
- Keeping everything in the same history, so the team continues where it left off
How atendIA does it
On the Essential plan, the atendIA AI answers 24 hours a day on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, understands voice messages, follows the rules about when to bring in a person and hands over to the team with one click in the same history, alerting a group when it passes to a human. On Professional, it becomes a full agent: it looks up services, prices and duration from the catalog, sees the open slots and books the appointment in the conversation itself. The AI cost is included in the plan, even during the trial.
Plans and pricing
The AI that answers and qualifies is on Essential, at $99 a month. The AI that checks the calendar and books the slot is on Professional, at $199.
See all plansFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
The chatbot answers. The AI agent answers and acts to reach a goal, using tools like the company calendar. Every agent talks like a chatbot, but goes beyond the answer.
How is the AI set up?
You fill in a form about your business: what you sell, prices, opening hours and what it must never promise. The AI starts answering from that, and its instructions stay editable in the dashboard.
Can the AI make up prices or promise things we do not do?
It answers within the rules you set, including what it must never promise and when to hand over to a person. On the Professional plan, price and duration come from your service catalog, not from a guess.
Do I have to pay for OpenAI or another AI separately?
No. On the Essential and Professional plans the AI cost is already in the plan price. You do not create an OpenAI account, paste an API key or get a usage bill, not even in the month it answers the most. The Basic plan has no AI.
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