Rules and compliance2 min read
Should you tell callers it is an AI?
Yes. The interesting question is not whether, but how to say it in a way that costs you nothing.
Published 29 April 2026 · Updated 15 August 2026
Some providers encourage hiding it, on the theory that callers behave more naturally with something they believe is a person. That theory does not survive contact with real calls.
Disclosure is the right answer ethically, and it is also the more effective one.
Why hiding it fails
Callers work it out. Not all of them, and not always immediately, but often enough. The moment of realisation is the problem: somebody who has been talking for two minutes and then discovers they were misled feels tricked, and their opinion of your business drops sharply.
There is also a business risk. Misleading a consumer about who they are dealing with is the kind of practice consumer protection law exists to catch.
What disclosure actually costs
Very little, in our own recordings. Callers told at the start that they are speaking to an assistant carry on with what they rang about, because they rang to get something done and the announcement does not stop them getting it done.
The ones who do object usually object to being sold to by a machine rather than to being helped by one. Inbound callers are in the second situation.
Easier to hear than to read about
Callwise answers your phone the way this article describes. Ring it, ask it something awkward, and see whether it holds up.
Talk to our AI assistantHow to word it
Short, matter of fact, at the start, and then move straight on. Long apologetic explanations invite an objection nobody was going to raise.
Something like: this is the assistant for [business], how can I help. The caller knows what it is and the conversation continues.
- Say it within the first sentence or two
- Use plain words, not a legal formula
- Do not apologise for it
- Move immediately to being useful
- Offer a person if asked, without argument
The offer that removes the objection
Anybody who asks for a human should get one immediately during working hours, and a firm commitment to a call back outside them. Making someone fight for a person is the fastest way to generate a complaint.
Configured this way, the disclosure stops being a risk and becomes a small reassurance, because the caller knows they have an escape route and mostly does not use it.
Questions people ask
Does it have to say it is AI specifically?
Saying it is an assistant is generally understood and does not mislead. What matters is that a caller is not led to believe they are speaking to a person.
Do many callers ask for a human?
Fewer than most businesses expect, and mostly when the assistant has failed to help with something. Fix the underlying gap and the requests fall.
Read next
Is it legal to use an AI receptionist?
Answering your own inbound calls with software is lawful. The rules that matter are about data and transparency, not about automation itself.
Do they actually sound human?
The voice is rarely the problem. What gives most of them away is timing.
Recording calls under UK GDPR
Recording business calls is lawful and routine. Doing it without telling anyone, or keeping the recordings forever, is where businesses get into difficulty.
Hear it answer a call
Ring the assistant and ask it the awkward question your customers always ask. If you like what you hear, it will book you in there and then.
Talk to our AI assistantNo form, no sales call. Thirty seconds on the phone with the thing itself.