> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getthread.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Voice AI FAQ

> Common questions on Voice AI: contact scope, caller verification, unknown callers, default contacts, PSA contact mapping, internal notes, and call recordings.

<Note>
  See the latest **Voice AI** updates in the [changelog](/changelog/q3-2026).
</Note>

## Contacts and caller identification

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Which contacts are in scope for Voice AI?">
    Only PSA contacts with an email or phone number are in scope. If the contact has only an email, the agent will ask for their name and company; otherwise mapping is automatic by phone number.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where does the agent get the MSP name from?">
    This is the name of your Thread Workspace.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why is the agent unable to find correct contact information?">
    There are three main reasons:

    1. The phone number doesn't exist in PSA
    2. The phone number exists on multiple contacts in the PSA
    3. For existing partners: The phone number is in the PSA, but a recent contact sync hasn't been run - go to Admin and run a PSA Contacts Sync
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can the AI verify end users using PINs or other methods?">
    Yes. End-user verification can be configured, and Voice AI uses that verification signal when deciding how much existing-ticket detail a caller can access. See [Voice Shield](/ai-agents/voice-ai-voice-shield).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How are unknown/unverified users handled?">
    When a caller cannot be verified, Voice AI does not create new contacts. It will assign a ticket to the default contact you have chosen in the agent settings and add a note to the ticket saying the user is unknown. Tickets from unknown callers will be sent to your catch-all queue. Once you identify who the user is and their phone number, you can update their records in PSA and Voice will start mapping them correctly.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Should I create a default company for unknown callers?">
    Whether to create a default company specifically for unverified users is up to you to decide. You can set up a default user with the default contact and company to alert someone about unidentified contacts. This should be configured in your PSA and set under your agent settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the agent have access to internal notes?">
    No. It cannot access internal notes to prevent sensitive data from being surfaced.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Agent behavior and configuration

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What happens if the AI doesn't understand the caller?">
    It will rephrase the question and try to capture the answer again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can the caller use speech to navigate menu options in Attendant?">
    Not supported. Callers must press a key. Speaking may break the script.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can we customize the agent's greeting, voice, or personality?">
    Yes, you can customize your agent's greeting message and behavior settings during agent configuration.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What languages does Voice AI support?">
    Voice AI speaks multiple languages — English, Dutch, French, and Spanish — set per agent in the agent's language setting. More languages are rolling out; check the agent settings for the current list.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can we test Voice AI before going live?">
    Yes, you can. You are only live once you complete the setup in your telephony system or once you share the number with your clients.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can custom hold music be used?">
    Yes. You can upload your own hold music in the agent's General tab, under **Select Hold Music → Custom** (MP3, WAV, or OGG, up to 10MB). See [Create your first Voice AI agent](/ai-agents/voice-ai-setup-phase-1-initial-configuration) for the upload flow and encoding recommendations.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is the recommended “call routing timeout”?">
    The recommended call routing timeout is the time it takes for your team/technician to pick up + 10 seconds. For example, some partners are using 120 seconds.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens if the technician's voicemail picks up the transferred call?">
    Voice AI can't tell a human pickup apart from a voicemail — from the carrier's perspective, both look like an answered call, so the call routing timeout stops applying and the caller stays connected to whatever answered. If the technician's voicemail picks up, Voice AI keeps the caller on the line until they hang up.

    Turn on **Technician Briefing** in your agent's **Call handoff** settings to prevent this. Before connecting the caller, Voice AI briefs the technician on the caller and issue and asks them to say their name to claim the ticket. A voicemail can't respond, so the handoff never completes and the call falls through to your configured fallback (for example, Overflow). See [Technician Handoff](/ai-agents/voice-ai-setup-phase-3-the-auto-attendant-walk-run#technician-handoff) for the setting.

    One caveat: disable Technician Briefing if you're routing calls into another IVR, or it will break the call flow.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will the attendant and overflow have different numbers?">
    Yes, they will.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can different hours be set for chat versus voice?">
    We are currently working on adding this capability.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Are after-hours settings configured per client or globally?">
    Currently, it's global, per MSP.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do we handle emergency or urgent calls?">
    You can setup hot keywords for escalation so the agent can skip the questions and forward the call to a technician in some cases.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can we have multiple agents for different departments or clients?">
    You can have multiple agents with different settings and numbers.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Tickets, transcripts, and recordings

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Where do AI-generated tickets get routed?">
    Based on your routing defined in Thread (ie. default board).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where do tickets land in Thread messenger and how can they be found?">
    Tickets land in the same way as non-voice generated ones. You can search them in Inbox. For example, create a view where source=Call .
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can the AI create tickets without live transfer?">
    Yes, you will want to use our Overflow Agent for this use case.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can the AI retrieve existing ticket information for status updates?">
    Yes, it can. The agent will ask "what can I help you with?", and if the caller is verified (phone number is registered in PSA), it will try to match their answer with an existing ticket. If a ticket is found, it will ask the caller if they wish to leave a message or read the latest updates.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where can call transcripts be viewed?">
    Call transcripts can be viewed in:

    * Admin (Voice Dashboard)
    * Inbox (Thread)
    * There is a section called "Phone calls" on the right side of each Thread

    Note: Transcripts are not added to PSA tickets, only available in Inbox and Admin.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is the retention policy for call recordings, and can we export the data?">
    We're still working on a formal retention policy. In the meantime, recordings are stored securely and you can download the recording of individual calls directly from the player.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can Thread handle transcribing outbound calls?">
    Yes. Outbound calls are recorded and transcribed into the ticket automatically, with the transcript available in the Admin dashboard and the right-hand sidebar of Inbox. See [Voice AI outbound calling](/ai-agents/voice-ai-outbound-calling).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What backend technology powers Thread's Voice AI?">
    LiveKit handles real-time call and media orchestration, Cartesia provides the text-to-speech voice, and Azure OpenAI is the language model — with Azure Speech handling speech-to-text.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Menu options, pronunciation, and onboarding

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Should menu options be used?">
    It depends on your use case:

    1. I don't want an IVR menu, but I still want to transfer to a technician:
       * In this case, you can choose "Don't use menu options" then add the phone number you want to redirect the user into in "Call Queue + Extension" field
    2. I don't want an IVR menu and I don't want to transfer to a technician:
       * Use Overflow agent instead
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How is custom pronunciation for company names handled?">
    Through the "Custom Pronunciation" feature, you will add the term to be mapped to your custom pronunciation and the agent will respect that during the entire call.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How does the end user know if a technician declines a call?">
    The agent will provide a verbal notification to them ("no one is available at this time"), take down their details and end the call.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What are the basic requirements to onboard with Voice?">
    1. Have a default board set in Messenger
    2. Run a PSA Contacts Sync in Admin
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>


## Related topics

- [Troubleshoot Voice AI](/ai-agents/voice-ai-troubleshooting.md)
- [Common questions](/get-started/common-questions.md)
- [Voice AI Contact Mapping](/ai-agents/contact-mapping.md)