Grok Bot Can Make Phone Calls Now. Here's How to Build One for Your Business

Grok Bot, xAI's AI assistant, can now place phone calls for you. You tell it who to call and why, it dials, talks to whoever answers, and reports back with a summary. Elon Musk previewed the feature on October 25, 2026, and the official Grok Bot account on X said it went live on November 4.

Grok Bot makes calls on your behalf, for your own errands. A business needs something different: an agent that answers the company's main line, works through a list of customers, follows company policy, and hands off to staff. This guide covers what Grok Bot's calling does, what is still unknown, and how to run a business phone agent on xAI's Grok Voice model, or on OpenAI's GPT-Live-1, with Retell AI.

Retell AI publishes this guide and sells a platform for building AI phone agents, including on xAI's Grok Voice model.

What Grok Bot's calling feature does

xAI has not published documentation for phone calls yet, so this comes from the launch demo and early coverage.

The demo is well chosen. Cancelling a contract is the call most people put off, and a retention offer is a real test: the agent has to recognize the pitch, hold its position and still get the confirmation.

What xAI hasn't said yet

As of November 4, 2026, several practical questions are still open.

• Whether calls cost extra. xAI's docs say Grok Bot is included on the X Premium, Super and Ultra plans and not on Plus. They do not mention phone calls, call limits or extra charges.
• Where it works. xAI has not published a list of countries. One tester reported the bot itself saying US only, which is not a published rule.
• Whether it says it's an AI. No source confirms that Grok Bot tells the person it calls that they are speaking with an AI.
• Which model runs the call. xAI sells a speech-to-speech model, grok-voice-3.0, to developers. It has not said that Grok Bot's calls use it.
• Inbound calls. Everything shown so far is Grok Bot calling out. Nothing shows it answering a phone line.

Treat any article that states these as fact with caution until xAI documents the feature.

The business version: an AI phone agent

If you saw the demo and thought "I want that answering our phones" or "I want that calling our customers," you are describing an AI phone agent. You have two broad routes.

xAI's own builder. xAI has offered a no-code Voice Agent Builder in beta since July 1, 2026. It is built around Grok Voice and includes telephony, a knowledge base, tools, guardrails and transfers to your team. Each account comes with a free phone number, and you can connect existing numbers over SIP.

A platform that runs several models. Retell runs Grok Voice alongside OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 and text models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, inside one agent builder with telephony, outbound campaigns, transfers, testing and post-call analytics. If you want to compare voice models on the same agent, or keep the option to switch later, this is the route.

Here is how Grok Bot's personal calling compares with a business phone agent built on Retell:

How to run a phone agent on Grok Voice with Retell

Retell supports xAI's grok-voice-3.0 as a speech-to-speech model. Speech-to-speech means one model hears audio and answers in audio, without separate transcription and text-to-speech steps, which is a large part of why these calls sound quick and natural. Retell's xAI voices work only with this model.

1. Create an agent and set its model to Grok Voice 3.0, which Retell lists among its speech-to-speech models. Over the API, set the Retell LLM's model_config to {"type": "s2s", "primary": {"model": "grok-voice-3.0"}}.
2. Pick an xAI voice for the agent.
3. Write the prompt the way you would brief a new hire: who the agent is calling, the goal of the call, what it may and may not agree to, and when to hand off to a person.
4. Add the call tools the job needs: Press Digit for phone menus, call transfer for handoffs, and end call.
5. Get a number. Buy one in Retell or import your own, and bind the agent to it for inbound, outbound or both.
6. Place calls one at a time from the dashboard or the Create Phone Call API, or run a Dialer campaign for a contact list.
7. Read the results. Add transcript_updated to the agent's webhook events if you want the transcript live, and use post-call analysis for the summary and any fields you define, such as "cancellation confirmed" or "appointment booked."

Speech-to-speech models, including Grok Voice 3.0, require a paid Retell account. They are not part of the free trial.

Grok Voice or GPT-Live-1?

Both are in Retell, and they suit different jobs.

Grok Voice 3.0 is a speech-to-speech model: one model listens, reasons and speaks, following a single prompt. It suits conversations where the agent mainly needs to talk well and stay on script.

GPT-Live-1, OpenAI's full-duplex voice model, arrived in Retell on November 2, 2026. It splits the work in two: the voice model handles speech, interruptions and turn-taking, while a backend text LLM you choose runs the main prompt, tools and knowledge base. When the agent needs to book something or look something up, the voice model keeps talking while the backend works, which makes it a strong fit for calls that take actions mid-conversation. It runs on single-prompt voice agents on paid accounts, is configured through the API with a separate voice prompt that says when to hand work to the backend, and is billed per minute plus the backend model's usage. The GPT-Live setup guide has the details.

For multi-step calls with strict branching, a conversation flow agent on a text model is still the most controllable option. If you are unsure which to use, build the same agent on two models and compare them on real calls. For the wider field, see our comparison of speech-to-speech AI APIs for phone calls.

Rules to know before your agent dials anyone

Cancelling your own subscription is one thing. A business calling customers with an AI voice is regulated.

• Consent. In February 2024 the FCC ruled that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's limits on artificial or prerecorded voices cover AI-generated voices, so those calls need the called party's prior express consent unless an exemption applies. Our TCPA playbook for AI outbound walks through what that means in practice.
• Disclosure. Under Article 50 of the EU AI Act, in force from August 2, 2026, people must be told they are interacting with an AI system unless it is obvious from context. Saying so in the agent's first line is the simplest default anywhere. See are AI voices legal for the wider picture.
• Do Not Call. Retell's Dialer can screen campaign contacts against federal and state Do Not Call registries before the first call.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the rules for every state and country you call into.

Frequently asked questions

Can Grok make phone calls?

Yes. Since November 4, 2026, Grok Bot can place outbound calls on your behalf: you describe the task, approve the call, and it talks to the other person while you watch a live transcript. Afterward it reports back with a summary.

Is Grok Bot's calling feature free?

Not on a free plan. According to xAI's docs, Grok Bot is included on the X Premium, Super and Ultra plans, not on Plus. xAI has not said whether phone calls carry limits or extra charges.

Can Grok answer phone calls for my business?

Grok Bot, as shown, only places calls for its user. For a business line, xAI sells a separate Voice Agent Builder built on Grok Voice. You can also run xAI's Grok Voice model on Retell, alongside other voice models, and connect it to your own phone numbers for inbound and outbound calls.

What model powers Grok Bot's phone calls?

xAI has not said. It offers a speech-to-speech model called grok-voice-3.0 to developers, but has not confirmed that Grok Bot uses it.

Can I use Grok Voice for my own phone agent?

Yes. Retell supports grok-voice-3.0 as a speech-to-speech model with xAI voices on paid accounts. You can connect it to your own phone numbers and use it for inbound or outbound calls.

Try it on your own calls

If the Grok Bot demo made you want the same thing on your business's phone line, build an agent in Retell on Grok Voice 3.0, or on GPT-Live-1 through the API, and pilot it on real calls before you commit to anything.