What is an AI demo agent? How it works, the types and how to choose
Short answer
An AI demo agent is software that gives a buyer a live product demo the moment they ask for it. It talks with the buyer by voice or chat, shows your product on screen, answers questions as they come, and hands interested buyers to your sales team with a record of what they asked and saw.
Karumi is an AI demo agent, so this guide comes from what we see in buyer conversations every day. It covers the definition, the four types on the market, Karumi and ten other vendors side by side, how an AI demo agent works, what to test before you buy and the prices that are public.
What is an AI demo agent?
An AI demo agent does the first demo that a sales engineer used to do. It has four jobs:
- Talk. It holds a two-way conversation by voice or chat, in the buyer's language.
- Show. It puts the product on screen: the real product in a live browser, a copy of it, or captured screens, depending on the vendor.
- Answer. It answers from your docs and your rules, and says so when it does not know.
- Hand off. It qualifies the buyer, offers a meeting and sends a summary to your CRM.
The demos an AI demo agent runs are also called agentic demos. See what agentic demos are and how they work.
An AI demo agent is different from a chatbot, a guided tour (some vendors call it an interactive demo) or a demo video, although it borrows from all three. See what an inbound agent is and agentic demos vs interactive demos.
| AI demo agent | Guided tour | Website chatbot | Demo video | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What the buyer sees | The product, driven live | Captured screens | A text window | A recording |
| Two-way conversation | Yes, voice or chat | No, or a chat layer | Text only | No |
| Unexpected questions | Answered on screen | Limited | Answered, no product view | No |
| Changes for each buyer | Every answer | Fixed path, some branches | Every answer | No |
| What your team learns | Questions, answers, intent | Clicks and drop-off | Chat logs | Views |
Buyers meet an AI demo agent in three places: a demo link in an email, an ad or an outbound sequence; a widget or chat bar on your website; and inside a video call, where some AI demo agents join Google Meet, Zoom or Teams next to your rep.
What types of AI demo agents are there?
Vendors came to this category from different starting points, so one name covers four different products. The useful question is what the buyer sees on screen. Many vendors sell more than one type. See is a Karumi demo live or a recording?
| Type | What the buyer sees | Good at | Weak at | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided tour with an AI layer | Captured screens with chat or voice on top | Fast to build, stable | Answers stop where the capture stops | Simple products, marketing pages |
| Presenter or avatar | A face or voice that presents slides, video or screens | A human feel on the page | Can be more watch than explore | Brand-led, early-stage pages |
| Replica or sandbox | A working copy of the product with sample data | Safe data, stable flows | The copy can drift from the real product | Products with sensitive data |
| Live product | The real product in a live browser, signed in to a demo account | Shows anything the product does | Logins, bot checks and UI changes to handle | Complex B2B products, many personas |
Which AI demo agents are on the market? Karumi and 10 others compared
We read each vendor's own pages in November 2026. "Not stated" means we did not find it on their pages, not that the feature does not exist. Saleo is now part of Consensus, which announced the acquisition on 9 Jun 2026.
For a deeper look at a vendor, see Karumi vs 1mind, Consensus, Navattic, Saleo, Storylane and Supademo.
| Vendor | What the buyer sees | Voice, avatar, chat | Joins video calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karumi | Real product live, or a replica if you prefer | Voice on a video call, and chat | Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex and more |
| Hobbes | Sandbox replica | Not stated | Not stated |
| Naoma | Real product live | Voice, avatar and chat | Not stated |
| Floe | Real product, demo login | Voice or chat, optional presenter | Not stated |
| Saleo (Consensus) | Real product with injected demo data | Conversational | Not stated |
| 1mind | Live demos with an avatar | Voice and avatars | Zoom |
| Supersonik | Real software, live | Chat | Not stated |
| Consensus | Tours, video and an AI demo agent | Not stated | Not stated |
| Supademo | Captured demos | Voice or chat | Not stated |
| Navattic | Captured demos, sandbox | Avatars and voiceovers | Not stated |
| Storylane | Captured demos, replica, sandbox | Video avatar on the Premium plan | Not stated |
| Vendor | Languages | Security | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karumi | 70+ | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR | Quote |
| Hobbes | Translates conversation and UI | SOC 2 Type II | Quote |
| Naoma | 80+ | GDPR | From $249/month, billed yearly |
| Floe | Up to 21 | SOC 2 Type II in progress | Quote |
| Saleo (Consensus) | Multi-lingual | Not stated | Not stated |
| 1mind | Not stated | AICPA SOC, ISO 27001, ISO 42001 | Quote |
| Supersonik | Not stated | SOC 2 Type II | Quote |
| Consensus | Not stated | Not stated | Quote |
| Supademo | 50+ | SOC 2 Type II | Credits from $99 |
| Navattic | Translation | Not stated | Quote |
| Storylane | Multi-language | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR | From $2,000/month |
Where Karumi differs. Karumi is an AI demo agent that learns your product, decides what to show each buyer and shows your real product live (or a replica, if you prefer), by voice on a video call or in chat. It joins Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex and other call platforms, works from a demo link you can send in outbound, and speaks 70+ languages. See how Karumi works.
In practice. Light Labs put Karumi on its website in October. In the first month, the AI demo agent held live demos with more than 120 brands and sent 64% of them to sign up or book a call. Read the Light Labs story.
"Karumi asks the questions our reps used to ask, then sends each brand to the right team or straight to sign-up." Aslan Goldenhour, GM, Transparency at Light Labs
How does an AI demo agent work?
The buyer clicks a link or a button, and a call opens with the AI demo agent next to the product. It asks what the buyer wants to see, shows it in the product and answers questions as they come. The buyer can interrupt at any time.
Under the hood, most AI demo agents run the same six steps. Vendors differ in how each step holds up when a real buyer asks something unexpected.
| Step | What happens | What can go wrong | How to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Learn the product | It learns from your docs and by exploring the product itself | Invented features when its knowledge has gaps | Ask about a feature you do not have |
| 2. Open the demo | The buyer clicks a link, a widget or a chat bar, or the agent joins a call | A slow start, or a form before anything happens | Time it from click to first word |
| 3. Discover | It asks for the buyer's role and goal, and can look up the company | A long interview before any product | Count the questions before the first screen |
| 4. Show | It shows the product and explains each screen | Login walls, bot checks, a changed UI, slow pages | Rename a button in your product and run it again |
| 5. Answer | It answers from your docs and rules | Long pauses, invented answers, real customer data on screen | Ask a pricing, a security and an off-topic question |
| 6. Hand off | It offers a meeting or trial and updates your CRM | Empty CRM notes, the wrong rep, no follow-up | Read the CRM record after a test session |
See how Karumi learns your product (step 1) and what Karumi sends to HubSpot after a demo (step 6). All CRM and calendar connections are on the integrations page.
What goes wrong most often?
- Latency. In a voice call, a pause of more than a second or two feels broken. Time a few answers yourself.
- Invented answers. A good AI demo agent says it does not know and offers to ask your team.
- Login walls and bot checks. An AI demo agent that uses the real product must get past single sign-on, two-factor codes and bot protection on every session.
- Demo data. A buyer must never see a real customer's record. Ask where the demo data comes from and how it resets.
- Product changes. Every release can move a button. Ask how the vendor finds a broken flow before a buyer does.
We cover the engineering side in should you build your own AI demo agent?
What do buyers ask an AI demo agent?
In our experience, buyers ask the same kinds of questions everywhere:
- "Can it do this?" Most questions are about what the product can do, and buyers want to see the answer on screen.
- Pricing and next steps. How much it costs, whether there is a trial and how to start. Decide what the AI demo agent may say about price before you launch.
- Integrations and setup. Which tools it connects to and how long it takes to go live.
- Security and comparisons. These come up less often, but they matter most to the deal. Give the AI demo agent clear, approved answers.
How do you test an AI demo agent before you buy?
Run every vendor through the same ten tests, on your own product, with your own questions. Score each line 0 (fails), 1 (partly) or 2 (passes), then compare the totals out of 20.
| # | Test | How to run it | Passes when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real product | Ask for something nobody prepared | It shows it in your product, or a faithful copy |
| 2 | Unexpected question | Ask about a niche feature | It answers correctly, or says it does not know |
| 3 | Interruption | Say "wait, go back" in the middle of a sentence | It stops, goes back and continues |
| 4 | Speed | Time five answers | No silence feels longer than a person's reply |
| 5 | Pricing | Ask "how much does it cost?" | It follows your pricing policy every time |
| 6 | Objection | Say "we already use another tool" | It answers the point, without attacking anyone |
| 7 | Language | Start in another language, then switch | It follows the buyer |
| 8 | Off hours | Start a session late on a Sunday | Same quality, and booking still works |
| 9 | Hand-off | Ask for a meeting, then open your CRM | The record shows the questions, answers and next step |
| 10 | Product change | Change a label in your product and run it again | The demo still works, or the vendor finds the break first |
Also ask for the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports, where transcripts are stored, and which AI model providers see them.
How much does an AI demo agent cost?
Most vendors give a price after a call. These are the prices that vendors publish on their own pages, checked on 13 Nov 2026:
| Vendor | Published price | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Naoma | Starter $249/month, Growth $750/month, Scale $2,083/month, billed yearly | Per engaged demo |
| Storylane (RepX agent) | Growth from $2,000/month (up to 20,000 visitors), Premium from $3,000/month (up to 60,000) | By visitor tier |
| Supademo (AI demo agent) | Credits from $99 (1,400 credits) | One credit per reply; voice adds one credit per 15 seconds |
| Karumi | Quote, scoped on a call. Pilots available | By agents, languages and sessions |
| Hobbes, Floe, 1mind, Supersonik, Navattic, Consensus | Quote only | Not published |
See Karumi pricing.
Try an AI demo agent yourself
The fastest way to judge an AI demo agent is to talk to one. Start a live demo with Karumi: our AI demo agent demos Karumi, and you can interrupt it with any question.
FAQ
What is an AI demo agent in simple terms?
It is software that gives a buyer a product demo on demand. It talks, shows the product on screen, answers questions and offers the next step, such as a meeting.
Is an AI demo agent the same as a chatbot?
No. A chatbot answers in a text window. An AI demo agent shows the product while it answers, by voice or chat, and qualifies the buyer for your sales team.
Is an AI demo agent the same as an interactive demo?
No. An interactive demo is a guided tour of captured screens that the buyer clicks through. An AI demo agent talks with the buyer and shows the product live, so it can answer questions nobody prepared for.
Does an AI demo agent use my real product?
It depends on the vendor. Some use the real product in a live browser, some use a copy with sample data, and some use captured screens. Karumi can run your real product or a replica, and you choose.
Can an AI demo agent join a Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call?
Some can. Karumi joins Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex and other call platforms, and 1mind says it joins Zoom calls. See can Karumi join a Google Meet, Zoom or Teams call?
Which languages can an AI demo agent speak?
Vendors state from about 20 to more than 80. Karumi speaks 70+ languages, with regional variants for accents. See which languages Karumi speaks.
What happens when the AI demo agent does not know the answer?
A good AI demo agent says so and offers to pass the question to your team, instead of guessing.
How long does it take to set up an AI demo agent?
Most teams are live with Karumi in about two weeks, per our build vs buy guide. Building your own takes months.
How much does an AI demo agent cost?
Published prices start at $99 in credits (Supademo) and $249 a month billed yearly (Naoma). Most vendors, Karumi included, give a price after a call.
