Amazon has added agentic AI capabilities to Amazon Connect, the neural text-to-speech tool that provides AI-powered customer service support and analytics in real time. Connect is capable of neural text-to-speech in more than 30 languages and also delivers automated speech recognition. Leveraging advanced speech models from Nova Sonic, the Connect agents “deliver natural, human-like conversations, responding with the right pace, tone, and understanding across multiple languages and accents,” Amazon says. The company has also integrated third-party automated speech recognition and text-to-speech solutions from Deepgram and ElevenLabs with Connect.

While Amazon has been offering Connect for years, the company explains in an announcement from AWS re:Invent that the agentic functions take things to a new level, creating “true collaboration” between humans and AI.

“While customer service representatives talk with customers, Amazon Connect analyzes conversation context and customer sentiment — not only suggesting next steps, but also actively completing tasks such as preparing documentation and handling routine processes,” according to Amazon.

“Customer service representatives can now focus on building relationships and handling complex situations while AI manages the background complexity, enabling them to serve more customers effectively” via “natural, conversational experiences,” Amazon adds.

In implementing its updated use of AI agents for customers, a few AWS-powered contact centers “will attempt total automation” while “a few will use AI agents only to assist humans,” though “most will blend the two and meet somewhere in the middle,” reports TechTarget.

Forbes interviewed Amazon Connect VP and GM Pasquale DeMaio, writing of his approach that “customer service works best when technology and humans come together. While AI and automation can make things faster and easier, there will be times when customers still want to talk to a live customer support agent.”

The goal is to automate simple ineractions and empower agents to handle more complex issues. “AI can’t do empathy — that’s what people do,” Forbes writes.

In its Q3 2025 earnings report last month, “Amazon announced a significant milestone: Amazon Connect achieved a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate, with AI optimizing over 12 billion minutes of customer interactions in the previous year,” according to a blog post about Connect that updates its origin story.

Meanwhile, AI voice company Deepgram announced the integration of its enterprise-grade speech-to-text and text-to-speech models with Amazon Connect and Amazon Lex, enabling real-time transcription, low-latency voice bots and analytics within AWS environments.

Related:
AWS CEO Matt Garman Wants to Reassert Amazon’s Cloud Dominance in the AI Era, Wired, 12/2/25