Hey there – Chris here, co-founder of Aeva AI Receptionist for Cliniko.
Two years ago, I stumbled across a question that wouldn’t leave me alone. AI exists, but: Why hasn’t anyone built an AI that can answer the phone?
I didn’t know how to code, but I was so obsessed with the idea that I tried to teach myself. I hacked together bits of it, failed over and over again, and realised quickly, I was out of my depth.
That’s when I turned to my best mate, Louis. He had the technical experience I didn’t, and more importantly, the same spark for the idea. Together, we started building.
And that’s how Aeva was born. Two mates trying to solve one problem: build a receptionist that never sleeps, never misses a call, and always knows what to say.
How does the AI receptionist actually work?
I’ve tried to explain this before and usually overcomplicate it. So here’s a simpler version (if it’s still confusing, let me know).
Our AI receptionist is actually a tightly stitched system made up of more than 8 different technologies, all working together to produce a single natural-sounding phone call.
Here’s what happens when a patient picks up the phone:
The patient speaks.
That voice is instantly transcribed into text by a fast, accurate speech transcriber.
We route that text to one of six trained AI agents.
Each one specialises in something different like handling bookings, cancellations, FAQs ect.
That agent thinks.
Using models from OpenAI and Anthropic, the agent processes the question or intent and generates a smart, context-aware reply in text.
Checks for backend actions.
It makes secure requests to your practice management software like Cliniko, fetching or updating the data as needed.The reply is sent to the voice engine.
The text is sent to Elevenlabs where it is converted into natural sounding speech from our custom trained voices.
The response is spoken back to the patient.
All of this happens in real time so the patient hears a natural voice on the other end of the line in under a second.
What’s actually under the hood?
Speech recognition from Deepgram that understands natural, often messy human speech
Practice management software integration for real-time data access and updates to Cliniko + others soon
Voice output using high-quality custom voices hosted on ElevenLabs
Phone providers from Twilio who provides the numbers we host on
Call routing, logic and post call processing managed by us, so the system works exactly the way your clinic needs it to.
So while it might sound like one smooth voice on the phone it’s really a choreographed orchestration between 8+ different technologies that make up the Aeva AI receptionist.
An early photo of our technical co-founder, Louis, 1 year ago coding our AI receptionists
“Chris, I've got be honest, I'm well impressed by the product.
Well done.”
This message from yesterday stopped me for a minute.
Because it wasn’t long or over the top, it was just honest. From someone actually using Aeva, in the real world, with real patients. And it reminded me that this thing we’re building… it’s actually working. Not in theory. Not in demo calls. In real clinics, with real people who need real help.
That’s the part I’m still wrapping my head around. We didn’t start Aeva to sell some plug-and-play AI tool. We started it because we saw a gap in healthcare where phone calls going to voicemail was ‘normal’ and the alternatives available were not working.
Now, I’m hearing that clinics are saving hours a week. That 80 year old patients are saying, “Thank you so much, what a lovely experience that was”. And that practices are turning over more revenue just by making sure every single call gets answered.
It blows my mind a bit.
Every message we get like that fuels us. It reminds us why this matters and why we’re not going to stop. We’re obsessed with every edge case, every corner of the call experience, every integration that makes life easier for your team.
And we know this is just the start.
Thanks to everyone who trusts Aeva with something as personal and sensitive as your phone line. And thanks for being part of a group of practice owners who are right at the front of this new wave of care.
You’re on the right ship. We’re going somewhere special.
P.S What else would you like to hear about moving forward? Hit reply and let me know.
Keep innovating 💪,
Chris Baxter
Founder, Aeva AI Receptionist for healthcare
www.aevaai.com
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