McKinsey and ElevenLabs team up to put AI voice agents on customer calls

McKinsey, the consulting firm, and ElevenLabs, a company that makes AI voice technology, announced an alliance to bring AI agents to customer calls at large companies. The first focus is telecom and insurance, two industries that handle huge numbers of customer questions every day.

What changed

The plan is to help a company try AI agents on a few starting tasks, show the value, then spread them across the business. McKinsey brings industry knowledge and its AI engineering group, QuantumBlack. ElevenLabs brings its voice technology and an agents platform called ElevenAgents. Both say a natural voice is not enough. The agents must also understand the request and work with the company's own systems.

Dutch telecom company KPN is the example. Its agents handle order questions and technical appointments. McKinsey says it began by studying anonymized call transcripts and chats to find the most common customer needs.

Who it affects

Anyone who calls a phone or insurance company. In insurance, agents could handle claims intake, policy servicing and everyday questions. The companies say human staff would then focus on more complex or sensitive requests.

What is not known yet

• Which companies besides KPN will use this, and when.
• Any results, such as time saved or customer satisfaction.
• Whether callers can choose to speak with a person.

McKinsey also works with other AI providers, so this is one of several routes companies could take.