Short answer: An AI receptionist answers calls coming in to you: it picks up, finds out who is calling and why, and passes on a summary. An AI caller goes the other way and phones businesses for you to book, ask or chase. Small businesses and busy people usually want the receptionist first; anyone with errands and long hold queues wants the caller. OsmO offers both: the OsmO app answers your own phone, and OsmO For my AI lets your AI apps make calls.
Receptionist = inbound: it answers your calls. Caller = outbound: it makes calls for you.
The OsmO app answers your own number, with a 7-day free trial.
OsmO For my AI makes outbound calls from ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and other connector apps, with 50 free credits.
Developer platforms can build either, but you design and run the agent yourself.
How it works
- Sign in with your mobile numberYou get 50 free credits. Nothing to pay.
- Add OsmO to your AI appChatGPT, Claude, Grok and other apps that take connectors.
- Ask it to callOsmO calls, talks, and tells you what was said.
The full guide
The difference in one table
| AI receptionist | AI caller | |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Inbound: calls to you | Outbound: calls from you |
| Typical job | Screen callers, take messages, answer questions | Book, ask, compare, chase, wait on hold |
| Who starts it | The caller | You, with a request |
| What you get | A summary of who called and why | The answer the business gave |
| OsmO product | The OsmO app, 7-day free trial | OsmO For my AI, 50 free credits |
What an AI receptionist does
A receptionist sits in front of your phone number. When someone calls, it picks up, asks who they are and what they need, answers simple questions from what you have told it, and sends you a summary. Spam callers get filtered out; real callers get a polite answer instead of voicemail. This is the right fit for tradespeople on a job, small shops, freelancers and anyone tired of unknown numbers.
The OsmO app does this on your own number. You can read more in our guides to the AI receptionist app and the AI phone assistant.
Big platforms have started doing a version of this for work phones too. Microsoft's Copilot call delegation in Teams can answer incoming Teams Phone calls for you; it is in preview and does not place calls to businesses.
One thing to check with any receptionist: whether callers can still reach you quickly when it matters. A good set-up lets the people you know get through, and keeps the AI for strangers, sales calls and after-hours questions.
What an AI caller does
A caller works for you on the outgoing side. You type a request, such as "ring the clinic and move my appointment to next week", and it places the call, works the phone menu, waits on hold, asks the question and reports back. Some phones and AI apps have this built in for US users, such as Gemini's Call for me and Grok Bot. OsmO For my AI adds it to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and other apps that take connectors.
Which one do you need?
- You miss calls that matter, or spend your day dodging spam: start with a receptionist.
- You put off calls because of menus and hold queues: start with a caller.
- You run a small business: a receptionist catches customers; a caller handles suppliers and bookings.
- You are building a product that answers or makes calls for your own customers: look at a developer voice platform instead.
What to look for in each
In a receptionist, look at how it treats callers you know versus strangers, whether it can answer common questions from information you give it, how quickly the summary reaches you, and how easy it is to call someone back from that summary. A receptionist that annoys your customers costs more than the missed calls it saves.
In a caller, look at which countries it can call, whose number the call comes from, how it handles phone menus and long holds, and what it refuses to do. Check how it is priced, too: per minute, per call or flat. With OsmO For my AI, an answered call is 3 credits however long, and unanswered calls are free.
You do not have to choose one forever. They solve opposite problems, so many people end up using both.
If you are not sure which problem is bigger, count for a week: how many calls you missed or dodged, and how many calls you put off making. Whichever number is larger is where to start.
What each costs with OsmO
The OsmO app starts with a 7-day free trial. OsmO For my AI starts with 50 free credits when you sign in with your mobile number, with no card. An answered call uses 3 credits however long it lasts, and a call nobody answers is free, so the free credits cover about 16 answered calls. When they run out you can keep calling from the OsmO app.
You can sign in with a mobile number from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia (India too), and calls are placed from the OsmO number for your country. From an AI app, OsmO calls listed businesses and toll-free helplines in your own country. With the OsmO app, it can also call your saved contacts.
Questions people ask
Can one AI both answer and make my calls?
Some developer platforms can be built to do both. With OsmO, the app answers your calls and For my AI makes calls from your AI apps; they are separate products under one name.
Does an AI caller use my phone number?
Gemini's Call for me does. OsmO For my AI calls from the OsmO number for your country.
Is an AI receptionist the same as call screening?
Call screening is one part of it: asking unknown callers who they are. A receptionist also answers questions and takes messages.
Sources
Checked November 13, 2026. Vendors change their products often; follow the links for the current version.
- Microsoft Support: call delegation in Teams
- Google Help: Call for me in Gemini
- xAI docs: Grok Bot calls
- Retell AI pricing