What does it take for AI agents to move beyond impressive demonstrations and become part of the working day?

In this episode of AI at Work, I speak with Will Del Principe from Thoughtly about what happens when AI voice agents are deployed into live customer and revenue operations. While many organizations are still evaluating where AI fits, Thoughtly is already helping businesses automate conversations, qualify leads, and manage customer interactions at a scale that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

Will explains why the first breakthrough for AI voice isn't replacing complex human conversations. Instead, it is handling high-intent follow-up, where customers are already expecting a call and want fast, accurate answers. We also discuss why being open about using AI often increases trust, how even a fraction of a second in response time can determine whether a conversation feels natural, and why building conversational AI is far more technically demanding than many people appreciate.

The conversation also highlights customer success stories, including Nomad, where Thoughtly's AI agents quickly grew to managing 20,000 tenant calls each day and 13,000 outbound sales calls every month. Rather than replacing employees, the technology allowed existing sales teams to focus on closing deals while AI handled repetitive outreach, qualification, and scheduling.

We also discuss why businesses should experiment with AI before competitors gain an advantage, how AI agents are developing long-term memory across multiple communication channels, and why learning to work alongside AI is becoming an important skill for professionals at every stage of their careers.

If AI can remove repetitive work while helping people spend more time on the tasks that matter most, where could it make the biggest difference in your organization? After listening, I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you see AI changing the way you work over the next few years?