Phone-answering AI company Retell now handles 100 million calls a month

Retell, a company that builds AI voice agents for businesses, now helps power 100 million phone calls a month. The news comes from OpenAI, which says its GPT-6 Astra model ranked first on Retell's own test for voice agents.

What Retell does

A voice agent is software that talks on the phone like a person. It can answer incoming calls or place outgoing ones for a business. Retell builds these agents and uses OpenAI models as part of what powers them.

What OpenAI says

• GPT-6 Astra topped Retell's voice agent benchmark, which is the company's own test of how well agents perform.
• Retell reports $1.6M in yearly revenue per employee.
• OpenAI credits its coding tool, Codex, as a help in reaching that figure.

What is not known yet

The full article was not available, so key details are missing. It is not clear what the benchmark measures, how close the other models scored, or how Retell counts a call. The revenue figure is a reported run rate, which is a current pace projected over a year. It is not a total already earned. The source is also OpenAI, which has a stake in the story.

Who it affects

Any business that depends on phone calls, such as service shops, clinics or offices, may find AI agents worth a close look. The scale here suggests the technology is already in wide use. Testing one on a small share of calls would show how it handles your customers.