Case study ·
AI: how I hired a virtual employee with Delos
Original title, in French: “IA : comment j'ai recruté un employé virtuel avec Delos”
- Publication
- Journal du Net (France)
- Author
- Benjamin Polge
- Published on
- 5 October 2026 · read in the page structured data
Summary
Le Journal du Net tested Delos, a Paris-based scale-up that has just raised €10 million and offers AI-based "virtual colleagues", each with its own dedicated number, email address and computer. The service runs on credits, with three monthly plans ranging from €100 to €500, and offers 20 preconfigured profiles (journalist, salesperson, designer, legal adviser, etc.). The test focuses on Lucia, a "virtual journalist" onboarded by video call, tasked with suggesting topics and writing articles. She produces a correct, factual first article, then conducts a telephone interview before writing a second article judged weaker, which omits some details given by the interviewee. The two articles used 3,172 credits, at a cost of €3.50 to €4. Delos's CEO states that a virtual colleague generally remains more cost-effective than a human employee.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on Journal du Net →Figures cited
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10 million EUR
Amount of funding raised by Delos
Delos, Paris-based scale-up, 2026
« L’entreprise, qui vient de boucler une levée de 10 millions d’euros, propose un service de mise à disposition de collaborateurs virtuels basés sur l’intelligence artificielle. »
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100 EUR
Monthly price of the Beginner plan
Delos Beginner plan, 80,000 credits included per month
« Beginner 100 € 80 000 1,25 € »
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500 EUR
Monthly price of the Extended plan
Delos Extended plan, 450,000 credits included per month
« Extended 500 € 450 000 1,11 € »
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20 profiles
Number of preconfigured virtual colleague profiles available
Delos, offering at the time of the test (October 2026)
« Pour l’heure, l’onboarding d’un collaborateur est encore limité à 20 profils différents préconfigurés »
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3,172 credits
Number of credits used for the writing of two articles by the agent Lucia
JDN test, two articles written by the agent Lucia (Delos)
« Au total, ces deux articles ont consommé 3 172 crédits, pour un coût estimé de 3,5 à 4 euros. »
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4 EUR
Estimated cost in euros of the writing of two articles by the agent Lucia
JDN test, two articles written by the agent Lucia (Delos), range of €3.50 to €4
« Au total, ces deux articles ont consommé 3 172 crédits, pour un coût estimé de 3,5 à 4 euros. »
Classification
- Country
- France
- Company size
- SMEs, Large companies
- Industries
- Software vendors, IT services companies, telecoms · Media, communications, marketing · All industries, or industry not specified
- Companies
- Delos (supplier), Nous Research (cited)
- Keywords
- ai agents, virtual colleague, work automation, usage-based pricing, product test, ai hiring
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Journal du Net and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.