Chapter 32 · companion worksheet

Voice AI rollout checklist

Work through these steps in order before you go live. Disclosure and escalation design are not optional — they belong on the checklist, not as afterthoughts once the system is running.

Phase 1 — Define scope before you touch a platform

• ☐ Name the single use case you are deploying first (e.g., appointment scheduling, after-hours intake): ______
• ☐ Confirm the task is structured and bounded — finite question types, predictable answers, not open-ended conversation.
• ☐ Measure what this call volume costs today: calls per week ______ , current cost per unanswered call ______
• ☐ Identify the hours or call categories where volume is currently lost to voicemail: ______

Phase 2 — Disclosure first (non-negotiable)

• ☐ Draft an opening greeting that identifies the system as AI in plain language. Example: "You've reached [Firm Name]. I'm an AI assistant — I'll help you get started and connect you with our team as needed."
• ☐ Confirm the disclosure appears at the first interaction, before any data is collected.
• ☐ Confirm the disclosure language matches the language of the call.
• ☐ If your firm touches EU residents or EU-domiciled operations: verify this satisfies EU AI Act Article 50(1) (enforceable August 2, 2026).

Phase 3 — Design the escalation path (before the intake script)

• ☐ Define the confidence threshold below which the system transfers to a human without asking again.
• ☐ Confirm the system transfers immediately when the caller says "agent," "human," or "person."
• ☐ Design the handoff: does a context summary pass to the human, or does the caller start over? (Starting over is not acceptable — build the summary.)
• ☐ Define what happens after hours when no human is available: ______
• ☐ Test the escalation path explicitly — do not assume it works.

Phase 4 — Acoustic and environment testing

• ☐ Test with background noise (car engine, waiting room, street noise).
• ☐ Test with a range of accents representative of your caller base.
• ☐ Test with callers who interrupt or change their request mid-sentence.
• ☐ Test with the caller types most likely to need urgent escalation (e.g., acute patient, time-sensitive legal inquiry).
• ☐ Document failure modes found during testing and confirm each has a resolution before go-live.

Phase 5 — Build the daily review protocol (before go-live)

• ☐ Assign a named person to review call transcript summaries daily: ______
• ☐ Define what counts as a misroute or escalation failure worth flagging: ______
• ☐ Set a calendar event for the first weekly review to catch patterns: ______
• ☐ Confirm full call recording is active and stored for audit purposes.

Phase 6 — Go-live gate

If any row is "no," you are not ready to go live. The failure modes that hurt most — the loop trap, the review gap, the handoff gap — all result from skipping rows in this gate.

Notes

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