RingCentral announced on May 7, 2026 that its AI Receptionist (AIR) now connects to Shopify, Calendly and WhatsApp, according to PYMNTS. With Shopify, AIR can answer order status and support questions by phone. With Calendly, it can book appointments end to end inside the calendars, CRMs, reminders and payment tools a business already uses. On WhatsApp, the same AI that answers the phone can handle inbound messages. RingCentral also added automatic language detection with 10 language options and the ability for AIR to join call queues during peak hours. The company said AIR serves about 11,800 businesses, up from 8,300 at the end of 2025.
This moves AI answering from routing calls to completing tasks, which is where the value and the risk both increase. A receptionist that can check orders or book paid appointments is touching customer data and revenue, not just transferring calls. RingCentral cited customer results such as Keller Interiors cutting wait times from 12 minutes to 90 seconds, but those are vendor-reported figures.
If you are evaluating AI answering, from RingCentral or anyone else, ask how it is priced as volume grows, what it can do when it does not understand a caller, how calls hand off to a person, and what data it can read and write in connected systems. Start with one narrow, high-volume task such as after-hours scheduling or order status, and measure abandoned calls and complaints before expanding.
The article did not include pricing or availability details for the new integrations, so confirm both with RingCentral or your advisor before planning around them.