Show HN: AI that talks to people on the phone for you

[smandava]

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mitra-call-people-with-ai/id6505044002

Hi HN! I'm launching Mitra - the first ever consumer grade AI agent designed to talk to people on the phone for you.

Voice is clearly the next frontier for consumer applications in AI. The problem we are solving is that phone calls are simply exhausting. Phone calls require both people to be fully present and one or both of you might not be comfortable acting a certain way or sharing certain information in real-time on a phone call. AI can solve that by essentially acting as the middleman. With an AI speaking to people on the phone on your behalf, you will have a lot more time freed up and will also allow the other person on the line to express themselves more fully. Also, it is very entertaining to hear your friends talk to an AI. Once a call is finished, you can view transcript and recordings of the call in a wonderful user experience.

Mitra calls people using your caller ID so the people you know will actually pick up and businesses won't mark you as spam. Mitra will convey anything you ask it to convey and have an actual back-and-forth conversation with the other person on the line. You can ask it to act a certain way when talking to people (e.g be sarcastic) or do more complicated phone calls (e.g initial phone screens for interview candidates, ordering something for pickup, etc.)

Right now, everyone gets 5 minutes for free. There are currently two main Mitra voices to choose from (male or female).

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to email me, the founder, at sai@simulation-applications.com

Right now, we are iOS only though have plans to expand to Android soon. You can download the app now at:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mitra-call-people-with-ai/id65...

[sgbeal]

> Also, it is very entertaining to hear your friends talk to an AI.

i would fire any friend who attempted to use an AI as a proxy for talking with me.

> Mitra calls people using your caller ID so the people you know will actually pick up ...

Once. After which that number will be blocked.

[smandava → sgbeal]

> i would fire any friend who attempted to use an AI as a proxy for talking with me.

Mitra does not replace calls that you already make to your friends where you want to talk to them. In fact, I encourage you to talk to your friends more directly.

Mitra is useful for 3 main reasons when it comes to friends:

1.) When you or the other person are not comfortable saying certain things or having certain, tough conversations.

2.) When you or the other person may not have the time to have a full fledged conversation about something.

3.) When you want to call your friends for pure entertainment purposes by having Mitra say funny things.

So if a friend used this on you it does not necessarily mean that they view you in a negative light.

Mitra, just like Snapchat or Twitter DMs or Instagram DMs, is simply another way you can communicate with your friends that is more engaging and fun than the others.

[toomuchtodo]

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-makes-ai-generated-voices-r...

[smandava → toomuchtodo]

Actually, here are the full details:

- "The Declaratory Ruling limits the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls, but it does not impose a total ban, as some headlines have suggested. Instead, it clarifies that callers who choose to employ AI-generated voices must comply with existing TCPA regulations."

- "The TCPA does not ban robocalls to residential phone lines (i.e., home landlines), even without consent from the called party as long as (1) the calls are not made for a commercial purpose..."

Sources:

1.) https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-17A1.pdf (official FCC declatory ruling)

2.) https://www.elias.law/newsroom/client-alerts/the-fcc-did-not...

3.) https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=3a809d28-60f5...

TLDR: AI phone calls are fine as long as you are not selling something.

The FCC ruling primarily impacts companies that employ telemarketing. Mitra is just a connective layer between you and other people.

We do not vouch for businesses to use Mitra to sell goods or services to others unless they have express written consent from those they reach out to.

[toomuchtodo → smandava]

Appreciate the context, that is helpful. Do you notify the other party of recording in two/all party consent states? Or is recording calls the default behavior of the app?

> Eleven (11) states require the consent of everybody involved in a conversation or phone call before the conversation can be recorded. Those states are: California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. These laws are sometimes referred to as “two-party” consent laws but, technically, require that all parties to a conversation must give consent before the conversation can be recorded.

https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RECORDING...

(This applies regardless of the commercial nature of the call)

[smandava → toomuchtodo]

In short, we practice passive consent. Consent could be either active or passive when recording calls.

Sources:

1.) https://www.bluedothq.com/blog/call-recording-laws#:~:text=S....

2.) https://www.avoma.com/blog/call-recording-laws

Here, the audio cue can be labeled as the AI voice itself as there is no regulation surrounding what exactly the audio cue should be.

So the recording is the default but I encourage you to always inform people and ask if that is okay before you ask Mitra to call them.

Mitra never makes calls to someone unless you specifically ask it to.

[aiagents_dir]

looks interesting, i would like to add it to the AI Agents Directory that i just launched. https://aiagentsdirectory.com/

[smandava → aiagents_dir]

Sure, go ahead