What is AI SDR?

An AI SDR (AI Sales Development Representative) is software that performs the top-of-funnel work traditionally done by a human SDR: contacting new leads across channels like email, phone, and SMS, answering questions, handling objections, qualifying interest, and booking meetings for human closers.

Unlike simple email automation, an AI SDR holds real two-way conversations. It reads replies, answers from a knowledge base about your product and pricing, and decides whether to book a meeting, keep nurturing, or hand off to a human.

Teams typically deploy an AI SDR to cover touches one through four of an outreach sequence — the repetitive, high-volume work — while humans handle warm conversations and closing.