# AI voice agents for buyers: the basics

Learn how an AI voice agent call works, which kinds of product exist and how to read a vendor listing and a price, so you can ask better questions before you buy.

- Level: Foundations
- Length: 40 minutes
- Exam questions: 9, pass mark 80%, up to 3 attempts
- Certificate: valid for 12 months

## What you will learn

- Name the parts of an AI voice agent call: telephony, speech-to-text, language model and text-to-speech.
- Explain latency, barge-in, turn detection and the difference between a warm and a cold transfer.
- Tell an AI receptionist, contact-centre voice AI, outbound calling, a voice AI API and an open-source framework apart.
- Read a listing and a price as a vendor claim that you still confirm with the vendor.

## Lessons

1. [How an AI voice agent call works](https://voiceagents.fyi/academy/voice-agent-buying-basics/how-a-voice-agent-call-works.md) (12 minutes)
2. [The kinds of voice AI product](https://voiceagents.fyi/academy/voice-agent-buying-basics/four-kinds-of-voice-ai-product.md) (14 minutes)
3. [Read a listing and a price](https://voiceagents.fyi/academy/voice-agent-buying-basics/read-a-listing-and-a-price.md) (14 minutes)

## Questions

### Do I need a technical background for this course?

No. The course is for people who choose or buy voice agents. It explains each term the first time it appears.

### Does the course rank vendors?

No. It teaches you how to compare vendors. Each listing on this site links to the vendor's own source, and prices change, so confirm every price with the vendor.

### What does the certificate show?

It is a certificate of completion from this site. It records that you passed the exam. It is not a licence, an accreditation or a review of any vendor.

Also on the [web page](https://voiceagents.fyi/academy/voice-agent-buying-basics).