Today, artificial intelligence is a common part of everyday life both at home and at work. An AI virtual assistant is a tool that might just help your business be more productive.
Learn how AI-powered virtual assistants help your business, how they work, how they’re already being used across industries, and more.
What is an AI assistant?
What is an AI virtual assistant? AI virtual assistants are software programs that use artificial intelligence to perform tasks or provide services for you. Particularly those that you can interact with via verbal or written questions or that otherwise communicate in a human-like manner.
In other words, it’s like a super-smart digital administrator/personal assistant that thinks for itself and performs a number of jobs without much human oversight.
What can AI assistants do? From managing your calendar to setting reminders, and creating call summaries to crunching numbers, these AI assistants are all about easing the burden of work on you.
They help you save valuable time and take on the burden of various tasks, giving you room to focus on what truly matters in your business.
Virtual assistant AI examples
That’s a simple virtual AI assistant definition, but things do get a little more complicated. There are several types of AI-based virtual assistants, each custom-built for a particular purpose or industry.
For example, there’s the likes of Amazon Alexa and Apple’s Siri, which would be most accurately described as AI voice assistants for consumers. However, we’re more interested in AI virtual assistants for business use.
Here’s a quick rundown of the main AI-powered virtual assistant types for modern workplaces:
- Productivity assistants: These AI-powered virtual assistants help you to streamline your tasks and supercharge your efficiency across an entire organization.
- AI chatbots and virtual assistants for customer service: These types of tools help handle customer support queries and keep your clients smiling.
- AI sales assistants: AI-powered conversation intelligence solutions help you generate leads and uncover customer insights.
- Artificial intelligence virtual assistants for content creation: Tools that use generative AI to help you craft emails, reports, and other written materials (think, ChatGPT from OpenAI).
- AI digital assistants for data analytics: Turn raw numbers into actionable insights you can use to improve workflows and processes.
All add value in their own way. The trick is finding the one that fits your business.
Conversational AI assistant technology: The engine of AI virtual assistants
That’s what AI virtual assistants are and the different types that are around. What’s the technology that drives these smart helpers?
The answer is conversational AI. Conversational AI is artificial intelligence that humans can talk to or interact with.
There are a few key components that combine to make up conversational AI. Natural language processing (NLP) is technology that analyzes and “understands” human speech or writing. Natural language generation (NLG), meanwhile, is the related technology that creates understandable and human-like responses. Machine learning, finally, is how AI can get more accurate over time.
Without getting too far into the technical reeds, it’s these components that power a conversational AI virtual assistant and make it smart enough to deliver a raft of potential benefits.
Benefits of an AI virtual assistant
Getting an AI virtual assistant for your business represents a bigger decision—and investment—than choosing to add an Alexa smart speaker to your home. Fortunately, the AI virtual assistant consumer benefits of those types of tools also pale in comparison to the principal benefits of business-facing tools:
It makes you more efficient
An AI assistant can handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks and free you up for more high-value work.
That delivers obvious benefits in terms of time-savings but can also make a difference to your bottom line. For instance, it may mean you can scale business operations without needing to expand your workforce—and your wage bill.
Imagine reclaiming hours of your day. That’s the power of AI efficiency.
It enhances your communication
Clear and consistent communication is key to any successful business. So how can AI assistants help?
Firstly, AI-powered assistants make it easier to maintain consistency in communication across channels. Regardless of if they’re communicating via live chat, email, or social media, your assistant can respond with a uniform message and tone. The best AI virtual assistant, too, can adjust its language based on the type of audience.
What’s more, AI assistants can be programmed to communicate in multiple languages, not just English, opening your virtual doors even wider on a global scale.
With an AI assistant, you’re not just communicating—you’re connecting, and improving customer experience at the same time.
It helps you make data-driven decisions
Big data has entered our everyday lives, and you need a smart resource for making decisions.
AI assistants can help you limit human error and bias in data analysis, potentially resulting in additional insights that would otherwise be missed.
Artificial intelligence, too, can analyze large swathes of data far more quickly than any human ever could. That means you can get insights as they happen, not hours or days later.
It improves accessibility
Inclusivity isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential. AI assistants are bridging the gap by helping businesses improve accessibility.
With the help of speech recognition, AI can convert text to speech and describe images, increasing the chances that your business will be accessible to visually impaired staff and customers.
By embracing AI, you’re running a business that creates opportunities for everyone.
It gets smarter over time
Unlike traditional software, AI assistants are dynamic, and they help you stay one step ahead in competitive markets.
Thanks to machine learning technology, the more you interact with your AI assistant, the better it becomes at understanding your needs and preferences. Over time, it adjusts its replies to fit what works best for you and your team.
The best AI virtual assistant features and use cases across industries
Before today, you might have heard of them as conversational user interfaces or sophisticated chatbots, typically whizzed up by geeks for startups and within big tech companies.
But they’re more than that.
AI virtual assistants are transforming how businesses are run and how organizations are interacting with their customers, and they’re doing so across a range of industries.
Fields where AI virtual assistant software is already making a splash include healthcare, finance, retail, education, real estate, and hospitality.
Let’s explore some key use cases that might also revolutionize your work:
AI virtual assistants in healthcare: Smarter appointment scheduling
Say goodbye to endless email chains just to schedule an appointment or a meeting. AI assistants are simplifying scheduling with:
- Smarter calendar management: Your AI assistant will go through your schedule to identify ideal meeting times or when best to arrange an appointment with patients or clients.
- Automated booking: When someone wants to meet with you, your AI can take care of the back-and-forth to find a time that works for all.
- Time zone coordination: Want to set up a call with an international client? Your AI is smart enough to know time zones, so no one has to be up at three in the morning.
- Meeting prep: For every appointment, your AI could assemble vital documents like healthcare records, agenda items, and IDs for attendees.
- Follow-up scheduling: After a meeting, your AI can automatically suggest and book follow-up sessions.
With an AI virtual assistant app scheduling your calendar, you’re free to actually focus on the meetings instead of the process of organizing them.
AI virtual assistants in customer service: Creating and tailoring messages
An AI virtual assistant for customer service can help with everything from composing the perfect email to writing engaging copy for blogs or social posts.
- Email drafting: Your AI can draft email responses based on context and your tone of voice.
- Content creation: Need a blog post, knowledge base article, or social media update? Give your AI customer service assistant a prompt, and it will create a draft or an outline for you.
- Grammar and style checks: Typos and awkward phrasing are a thing of the past. Your assistant suggests corrections and tweaks to your grammar and style.
- Personalization at scale: Tailor messages to individual recipients without spending hours on each one.
- Tone adjustment: Your AI can change its writing style to suit different kinds of users and platforms.
AI virtual assistant software in sales: More efficient documentation
Trying to keep track of all your business information can be chaotic, especially in fast-moving fields like sales where new data is quickly generated. Luckily, an AI virtual assistant app or solution can help change the game.
- Automated note-taking: During sales calls and meetings, your AI can capture key points, action items, and decisions.
- Call and meeting transcription: Miss something important? Your AI will provide a searchable transcript of every conversation.
- Smart summarization: After a long meeting, your AI summarizes the main ideas to aid understanding.
- Document organization: Your AI assistant can categorize and tag documents for easy retrieval.
- Automatic CRM updates: If you have an AI virtual assistant that integrates with your CRM—or is part of a broader solution which does—it can automatically update that system with details from any new sales call.
- Version control: Keep track of document changes and collaborations effortlessly.
With an AI virtual assistant doing the documentation, you can capture important knowledge and make it usable and accessible.
AI virtual assistants in the legal industry: Speedier research and analysis
In a data-driven world, insights are gold. AI assistants are your expert miners. This is critical in a field like the law, where AI legal tools can readily speed up the copious research that goes into preparing a case or argument.
Here are some other ways AI virtual assistants can help with research and analysis:
- Market trend analysis: Your AI can sift through vast amounts of data to identify emerging trends.
- Competitor research: Stay ahead of the game with AI-powered competitor analysis.
- Customer insight generation: Understand your customers better with AI-driven analysis of feedback and behavior.
- Predictive forecasting: Use AI to anticipate future trends and make proactive decisions.
- Data visualization: Your AI can transform complex data into easy-to-understand visual representations.
With an AI research assistant, you won’t be reacting to market trends—you’ll be anticipating them.
AI virtual assistants in contact centers: More efficient performance management
Keeping your contact center teams on track has never been easier. An AI virtual assistant can help you with:
- Automated time tracking: Your AI can monitor productivity without the need for manual input.
- Performance analytics: Get insights into individual and team performance trends.
- Personalized coaching: AI can provide tailored advice to help each team member improve.
- Goal tracking: Set and monitor progress toward individual and team objectives.
- Feedback analysis: Your AI can analyze feedback to identify patterns and areas for improvement.
AI virtual assistants for small business: Better organized project management
Where dedicated project management used to be the preserve of only larger enterprises, artificial intelligence makes it much more accessible for small businesses, too.
From small tasks to major initiatives, AI is revolutionizing how we manage projects. It can help you with:
- Task prioritization: Your AI can suggest what tasks to focus on based on their due dates and dependencies.
- Resource allocation: Get AI-powered recommendations on the best use of your team’s time and skills.
- Risk assessment: Identify potential roadblocks before they become problems.
- Progress tracking: Get real-time updates on project status without constant check-ins.
- Automated reporting: Generate comprehensive project reports at the click of a button.
AI-powered project management doesn’t stop at completing tasks. It optimizes your entire workflow.
How to choose the best AI virtual assistant for your needs
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to selecting the best virtual assistant AI. Instead, it’s about finding the best fit for you.
Here’s how to go about the selection process:
1. Define your goals
Before diving into features and pricing, ask yourself which areas of your business need most support, what tasks you might be able to automate, and which outcomes you’re hoping to achieve.
If you have specific goals in mind, they’ll help you conduct a meaningful search and keep you from getting caught up in distractions.
2. Consider your budget
AI assistants come at various price points. When evaluating costs, think beyond the sticker price to the ROI you might get in terms of time saved or productivity gains. Factor in scalability to ensure pricing still works as your business grows, and don’t forget about training and implementation costs.
Remember, the cheapest option isn’t always the most cost-effective in the long run.
3. Evaluate available features and integrations
Your AI assistant should play well with your existing tech stack. Consider whether it can be integrated with your current tools and platforms and ensure it’s flexible enough to adapt to your workflows.
Try to find an assistant that complements your existing working environment rather than requiring a total overhaul.
4. Prioritize ease of use
No matter how powerful an AI assistant is, it’s useless if your team can’t use it. Look out for an intuitive interface, comprehensive but accessible documentation, and the availability of training and support.
The goal is to boost productivity, not create a new learning curve.
5. Don’t compromise on security
When it comes to AI assistants handling your data, security is non-negotiable. Ensure that any AI virtual assistant you’re considering provides robust data encryption, compliance with relevant regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.), and clear data handling and privacy policies.
6. Consider a unified platform
Although standalone AI assistants can be amazing devices, there’s a very good argument for choosing a single assistant that’s part of a unified platform.
When your AI assistant is part of a larger ecosystem, like RingCentral, it works harmoniously with other tools.
That helps create a consistent user experience, as there’s no need to juggle multiple interfaces and logins, whether you’re using desktops, tablets, or smartphones.
It’s also often more budget-friendly to unify your tech stack than piecing together multiple separate tools.
7. Test drive before you commit
Many providers offer free trials. Use them. There’s no substitute for “trying it on.”
While you’re on trial, involve key team members in the testing process and simulate real-world scenarios for which you’ll be using the assistant. That way, you can pay attention to performance, user experience, and any potential pain points.
This firsthand experience will be invaluable in making your final decision.
9 Top AI virtual assistant tools
By now, you know what AI virtual assistants can do and how to go about assessing them. Which specific tool, though, could be right for your business?
Let’s explore nine top AI virtual assistant tools that could transform your daily operations:
1. RingCentral AI Assistant
RingCentral AI Assistant is a powerful tool for enhancing any organization’s communication experience and overall productivity. It’s designed to be your ally in achieving business success.
Here’s just some of what RingCentral AI Assistant offers:
- AI writer & translator for messaging: Craft articulate and contextually aware messages with a few simple commands. It can edit and polish up messages or create messages from scratch with prompts, and accurately translate messages in Chinese, French, English, Spanish, and German. *Coming soon to early access preview.
- Automated note taking: Free up time from manual note taking and let it automatically summarize and transcribe for you. It captures key decisions and outlines action items in real-time, giving you a personal AI helper that organizes the fine details of your calls.
- Seamless integration: It works seamlessly with RingCentral tools like RingEX and RingCX to provide a unified experience and eliminate extra steps in your workflow. What’s more, RingCentral boasts native integrations with 300+ other business tools.
Whether it’s making data-driven decisions, personalizing customer interactions, or simply keeping things running smoothly, RingCentral AI Assistant helps you work smarter, faster, and better. All as part of a broader communications solution that works just as well via web, desktop, or mobile app (Android and iOS).
2. Google Assistant
Google Assistant is a handy AI assistant that works on numerous devices. Features include:
- Voice command functionality for efficient multitasking
- Personalized assistance based on user preferences
- Integration with numerous third-party apps and services.
3. Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem. It offers:
- Deep integration with Microsoft 365 applications
- Content generation capabilities to streamline your workflow
- Automation of repetitive tasks across Microsoft tools.
4. HiveMind
HiveMind focuses on enhancing business processes through AI-powered collaboration. HiveMind provides:
- Real-time insights to improve team synchronization
- Process automation to increase efficiency
- Data analysis to support informed decision-making.
5. Bardeen
Bardeen specializes in automating web-based workflows. This virtual assistant:
- Connects web applications for seamless operations
- Offers no-code solutions for easy automation
- Simplifies complex tasks into manageable processes.
6. Aisera
Aisera provides AI-driven solutions for customer service and IT support. Key features include that Aisera:
- Uses conversational AI for natural interactions
- Offers support across multiple communication channels
- Enables user self-service for efficient problem-solving.
7. Notion AI
Notion AI is an integrated assistant within the Notion workspace. The virtual assistant:
- Assists with content creation within your documents
- Helps manage tasks and projects more effectively
- Offers customizable AI workflows to suit your needs.
8.Superhuman
Superhuman is designed to optimize email management. It does this by:
- Accelerating email processing
- Using AI to help prioritize your inbox
- Providing efficient tools for email organization.
9. Grammarly
Grammarly serves as an AI writing assistant to enhance your communications. Users get:
- Real-time grammar and style suggestions
- Plagiarism detection capabilities
- Integration capabilities with various applications and browsers.
Get an AI virtual assistant free as part of your chosen RingCentral solution
Today’s AI virtual assistants can help your team be more productive, better connected, more competitive, and more profitable.
We’ve covered nine virtual assistants that will help you breeze through your key business tasks, from Google Assistant, which can solve a wide variety of problems, to Grammarly, which works behind the scenes to help you become a better writer and editor.
But, as far as business communications and improving overall employee efficiency and productivity are concerned, this AI Assistant from RingCentral is hard to beat. Here’s why:
- Tailored for business: Unlike common-purpose assistants, RingCentral AI Assistant is created to meet the complex needs of modern businesses.
- Seamless integration: It can bring all of your existing phone and communication tools together, creating a unified, efficient workflow.
- Continuous learning: It learns with your business, continuously improving its performance according to your evolving objectives.
With RingCentral AI Assistant, you’ve chosen to do business better by building a smarter company. It’s an investment in your employees, your customers, and your future. And, better still, these AI-powered features are now built into RingCentral solutions like RingEX and RingCX. It’s like getting a free AI virtual assistant as part of your unified communications or contact center platform.
Ready to experience the power of AI-enhanced communication?
Take the first step toward revolutionizing your business operations and get in touch today to learn more.
AI virtual assistant FAQs
What is the most popular AI assistant?
The best known, most widely used, and therefore, most popular AI assistants are probably those aimed at consumers for use in day-to-day life. Think AI virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, or Cortana, which most of us have on our phones, on our tables, and in our homes via smart devices.
What is the best AI assistant?
If you’re talking about AI virtual assistants for professional use, the best option is the one best-suited to your unique business needs. There are lots of different types of AI assistants designed for varied industries, business departments, and use cases. #
Understanding what you’re truly looking to achieve with a virtual assistant is the best first step towards choosing the best one for you.
How do I use AI as a virtual assistant?
Using an AI virtual assistant is simpler than you might think. In general, you simply need to choose the right tool, set it up within your organization, and then support your teams in their usage of the new solution.
Keep in mind that the point is to augment your workflow, not disrupt it. Start with some small tasks and slowly push the envelope as you trust the AI virtual assistant more.
AI virtual assistant vs chatbot; are they the same thing??
Put simply, AI virtual assistants are more advanced, versatile cousins of chatbots.
Chatbots often only handle narrow and specific tasks, such as answering FAQs, whereas AI virtual assistants are expected to handle more complex tasks in more domains.
Most chatbots, too, follow very simple rules. AI virtual assistants use more sophisticated AI and machine learning algorithms, enabling them to know the context of a question and learn as they interact.
Will AI virtual assistants replace humans?
This is a common concern, but the reality is more nuanced. AI virtual assistants supplement rather than replace human users. They handle more routine tasks so that humans can focus instead on solving tough problems, being creative, and having interpersonal interactions.
The most effective approach is often a combination of human expertise and AI capabilities.
Updated Jul 02, 2025
