Designing Cali: How Calico Care Built a Voice-Based Care Assistant Patients Can Trust

Designing Cali:

How Calico Care Built a Voice-Based Care Assistant Patients Can Trust At Calico Care, we’ve invested deeply in one guiding question: 

How do we build a voice-based AI that patients actually feel comfortable talking to? Not a novelty device. 

Not a scripted chatbot. 

Not a string of prompts stitched together. 

We set out to build something different: a care-oriented voice assistant that feels clear, calm, and human, especially in moments when patients may be tired, stressed, or uncertain. That assistant is Cali. 

The vision behind Cali 

Cali is Calico Care’s voice-based Care Assistant, built to support patients through simple check-ins, reminders, and short conversations that reinforce continuity of care. The goal isn’t to “sound smart.” The goal is to sound supportive. 

For patients, the experience is shaped by more than accuracy. A perfectly correct answer delivered in the wrong tone can still feel confusing, dismissive, or cold. And when someone is dealing with health concerns, those small signals add up quickly. 

That’s why we treat Cali’s voice and conversational style as a core product surface, not a finishing touch. 

More than a prompt: what we’re really building 

It’s easy to assume voice AI is primarily a prompt and a model. In practice, building a care assistant patients can trust requires designing a full experience, end to end. When we say “more than a prompt,” we mean: 

1) A consistent companion, not a different assistant every day

Patients shouldn’t feel like they’re talking to a different “version” of Cali each time. We designed Cali to be steady: the same warmth, the same clarity, the same sense of calm across interactions. Consistency is a form of trust. 

2) A conversation flow that reduces cognitive load 

Healthcare is already demanding. Cali’s job is to make things easier, by asking one thing at a time, using plain language, and keeping the rhythm unhurried. Good voice design is as much about what you leave out as what you add. 

3) A tone that supports, not a tone that performs 

A care assistant should never feel like it’s trying to impress the patient. Cali was built to be present and practical: reassuring without being overly familiar, respectful without sounding clinical. 

4) Guardrails that prioritize safety and dignity 

A patient should always feel in control. Cali avoids pressuring language, confirms uncertainty in a calm way, and stays within appropriate boundaries. The experience should feel supportive and also safe. 

5) Reliability in the details patients actually notice 

Patients notice the small things: whether the assistant interrupts, whether it speaks too fast, whether it repeats itself, whether it acknowledges what was said. Those details often determine whether a patient comes back tomorrow. 

Why tone and voice matter so much in care 

In healthcare, tone isn’t cosmetic. It’s a trust signal. 

Patients often interpret tone as intent: 

• Warm, steady tone can feel empathetic and reliable. 

• Rushed, overly formal tone can feel distant. 

• Casual tone at the wrong time can feel insensitive. 

That’s why we intentionally shaped Cali’s conversational style. Even when the “content” is similar, the delivery changes how it lands. 

Formal: 

“Good afternoon. I will now guide you through a few questions about your general well-being.” More conversational: 

“Hi there thanks for chatting with me today. Let’s take a moment to check in on how you’ve been feeling.” 

Same purpose. Different emotional experience. 

What success looks like 

We’re building Cali toward a simple standard: a patient should finish a conversation feeling clearer, calmer, and more supported than when they started. 

That means Cali should: 

• be easy to understand the first time 

• be respectful and encouraging 

• guide the patient through small steps 

• feel consistent and familiar 

• leave the patient with confidence, not friction

When those goals are met, voice AI becomes something patients can actually integrate into their routine not another tool they abandon. 

Why this work matters 

Digital health succeeds when it respects the patient’s reality. If a tool feels confusing, cold, or demanding, it won’t be used, no matter how advanced it is. 

Cali reflects our belief that care technology should feel like care: 

Technology that doesn’t overwhelm, technology that reassures. 

Technology that doesn’t just speak, technology that cares.