Kore.ai is an enterprise agentic and conversational AI platform used to build production AI agents across voice, chat, SMS, web, and social channels. It is especially strong in banking, financial services, healthcare, retail, and telecom, where large organisations use it to automate high-volume customer interactions at scale.
Kore.ai is built to run the conversation and orchestrate the systems already in place. In banking deployments, that often means triggering an institution's existing bill-pay or payment rails through integrations. What Kore.ai does not do is capture or process a card in the call itself. There is no native merchant product, no native payment service provider, and no "take a card during the conversation" capability inside the AI pipeline.
That distinction matters. Orchestrating an existing bill-pay rail is not the same as accepting a new card payment from a caller in a PCI-compliant way. For many use cases, from collections to outbound sales to ad-hoc support payments, you need to take the card there and then.
This guide explains the payment gap, and how Shuttle adds the payment layer that handles PCI-compliant card capture, SMS or email payment links, and connections to 30+ gateways alongside a Kore.ai deployment.
The Payment Challenge for Kore.ai
The core problem is simple: card data cannot safely enter the AI pipeline. The moment a caller reads or keys a card number into a Kore.ai voice agent, those digits flow through transcription, logging, and model infrastructure that was never designed to be in scope for cardholder data. That is a serious PCI liability.
Orchestrating an institution's bill-pay rails sidesteps this for known, stored payment methods, but it does not let you accept a new card from a caller in real time. Bill-pay orchestration and new-card capture are two different jobs.
Building PCI Level 1 capture yourself is expensive and slow. Building and maintaining compliant infrastructure, audits included, carries a significant upfront and annual cost. That is before you have processed a single payment.
Bolting on a separate payment line or "press 1 to be transferred to pay" also breaks the experience. You lose the conversational flow Kore.ai was chosen to deliver, and you add drop-off at the exact moment you want a completed payment.
How Shuttle Works with Kore.ai Today
Shuttle has no native integration with Kore.ai. Instead, you invoke Shuttle's Twilio-based payment setup. The handoff is API-driven: your application code triggers the Shuttle payment handoff at the point of payment. To use the voice capture path, you must be a Twilio customer.
Your Kore.ai agent handles the conversation as it does today across voice, chat, or SMS.
When it is time to pay, your application code triggers the Shuttle payment handoff.
At the point of payment, the call is handed to a secure PCI DSS Level 1 capture via Twilio Pay. The card digits pass from Twilio Pay to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment and never reach Kore.ai, the LLM, or the agent.
Shuttle sends the transaction to your chosen gateway from 30+ supported providers.
The authorisation result is returned to your application, which confirms the outcome.
You build the orchestration and agent-side wiring yourself. Shuttle provides ready-made interfaces for payment links, plus the capture, IVR, and APIs. For a proof of concept, you can build against Shuttle's sandbox gateway and demo app before going live.
Honest caveat: secure capture at the point of payment is live now via Twilio Pay. Shuttle being present for the entire call is not yet turnkey. Returning the caller to the same Kore.ai agent after payment works today: you program the return route in your Twilio flow and pass a conversation ID, so the agent picks the call back up with full context. Shuttle works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon.
How It Works: Step by Step
The caller reaches a point where payment is needed (a bill, a balance, an order).
The Kore.ai agent confirms the amount and reference.
Your application code triggers the Shuttle payment handoff.
At the point of payment, the call is handed to a secure PCI DSS Level 1 capture via Twilio Pay.
The caller enters card details on the keypad. The digits pass from Twilio Pay to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment, so they never reach Kore.ai, the recording, or your systems.
Card data is tokenised with your gateway.
Shuttle sends the payment to your configured gateway.
The authorisation result returns to your application.
Your application records the outcome and the agent confirms the result.
Multi-PSP Support
Shuttle is gateway-neutral and connects to 30+ payment gateways, including:
Stripe
Adyen
Worldpay Access
Checkout.com
This matters for Kore.ai's enterprise and banking customers. Many have a mandated acquirer or gateway already in place, and if it is a supported gateway, Shuttle sends payments to it rather than forcing a switch. Switching or adding a gateway is configuration, not re-integration, though saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them. For platforms and BPOs serving multiple clients, Shuttle supports multi-tenant gateway setup, so each client's payments go to their own gateway.
A note on gateways: a few gateways (for example, Braintree) do not work for voice capture, because they will not allow raw card data to be passed, but they do work for payment links.
PCI Compliance
Shuttle is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified Service Provider, the highest level of compliance. When the call is handed to the secure Twilio Pay capture, cardholder data never enters Kore.ai's voice, chat, or logging systems.
This limits your Kore.ai deployment's PCI scope for card capture. In practical terms, it can keep you on a lighter SAQ-A posture (where you never see or store card data) rather than the far heavier SAQ-D obligations that apply when card data flows through your own systems.
Beyond Voice: Payment Links
Payment links are the turnkey path. Not every payment needs to happen mid-call, and links work even with gateways that do not support voice capture. Shuttle can send an SMS or email payment link directly from a Kore.ai interaction, including mid-call. The agent confirms the amount, Shuttle sends a hosted, PCI-compliant link, and the customer pays on their own device. This is ideal for chat and SMS channels, higher-value transactions, or any case where the customer prefers to enter card details themselves on a secure page. See pricing.
Use Cases
Bill-Pay and Account Payments
Let customers pay a bill or top up an account in a single Kore.ai conversation, capturing a new card when there is no stored method to orchestrate.
Collections and Payment Plans
Take a payment or set up a plan during outbound or inbound collections calls, with compliant capture, and payments sent to the creditor's mandated gateway.
Customer Support Payments
Handle ad-hoc payments in support flows (a fee, a replacement, an upgrade) without transferring the caller to a separate line.
Outbound Sales
Close and capture payment in the same outbound Kore.ai call, turning a confirmed yes into a completed transaction before the caller hangs up.
FAQ
Does Kore.ai process card payments natively? No. Kore.ai runs the conversation and can orchestrate an institution's existing bill-pay or payment rails through integrations, but it does not capture or process new card payments in the call. Shuttle adds that capability via a secure Twilio Pay handoff.
Does Shuttle have a native Kore.ai integration? No. Shuttle has no native Kore.ai integration. You invoke Shuttle's Twilio-based setup, and your application code triggers the payment handoff at the point of payment.
Does this require Twilio? Yes, for the voice capture path today. The secure capture runs via Twilio Pay, so you must be a Twilio customer. Shuttle works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon. Payment links do not require Twilio.
How do I take PCI-compliant payments with Kore.ai? Invoke Shuttle's Twilio-based setup. At the point of payment, your application code triggers the handoff, the call is handed to a secure PCI DSS Level 1 capture via Twilio Pay, the card digits pass from Twilio Pay to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment, and the result returns to your application.
Which payment gateways does Shuttle support? Shuttle connects to 30+ gateways, including Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay Access, and Checkout.com, so you can keep your existing or mandated provider if it is a supported gateway. A few gateways (for example, Braintree) do not work for voice but do work for payment links. Switching gateways is configuration, not re-integration, though saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them.
Why not build PCI payment capture ourselves? You can, but PCI Level 1 infrastructure is expensive to build and to maintain every year. Shuttle gives you the same capability at $49 per live instance per month, plus $0.20 per transaction billed through your Twilio account, with no per-seat fees.
Can I take payments on outbound Kore.ai calls? Yes. Shuttle supports both inbound and outbound flows, so your agents can capture payment during outbound collections or sales calls.
Related Reading
AI Voice Agent PCI Payments: how PCI-compliant capture works behind any AI voice agent.
Voice Payments: taking secure payments over voice channels.
The Payment Layer for AI Agents: why payments sit as a layer beneath your agent platform.
Cognigy Payments: the same gap-fill approach for another enterprise conversational AI platform.
Contact Centre Payments: payment capture across contact centre and CCaaS deployments.
Add Payments to Your Kore.ai Agents
Shuttle is the payment layer that adds PCI-compliant capture via a secure Twilio Pay handoff, SMS and email payment links, and connections to 30+ gateways, for $49 per live instance per month, plus $0.20 per transaction billed through your Twilio account. Read the Twilio setup docs, the payment links docs, and the security overview.
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