Recording, consent & AI disclosure
What you must tell callers about recording and about talking to an AI.
This page explains what the product does and points at the obligations that commonly apply. It is not legal advice. Requirements vary by country and by state, and they change. Check your own position before going live.
Two separate obligations
They are often confused, and they are not the same thing:
Recording disclosure — telling people the call is recorded.
AI disclosure — telling people they are talking to an AI.
You may be subject to one, both, or neither, depending on where you and your callers are.
Recording
One-party and two-party consent
In some jurisdictions only one participant needs to consent, which can be you. In others — including several US states such as California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington and Massachusetts — every participant must consent.
The stricter rule generally applies when a call crosses jurisdictions. If you take calls from anywhere in the US, the practical approach is to disclose on every call.
In Europe
Under GDPR, recording is processing personal data. You need a lawful basis, you must tell people at the point of collection, and you must be able to honour access and deletion requests.
How to disclose
Enable Tell callers the call is recorded under Your assistant. This adds a notice to the greeting.
Put it in the opening line, before the caller says anything substantive:
"Thanks for calling Northgate Dental, this is Sarah. This call is recorded for quality and training. How can I help?"
If someone objects, you need a path that does not record — usually a transfer to a human on a line without recording.
Turning recording off
Recording is configured per number. If you cannot meet the disclosure requirements, turn it off. You still get transcripts and summaries.
AI disclosure
Where it is required
A growing number of jurisdictions require businesses to disclose that a caller is interacting with an AI rather than a person. California's bot-disclosure law is the best-known example, the EU AI Act contains transparency obligations for systems that interact with people, and several other US states have introduced similar rules.
Requirements differ on when disclosure is needed — some only when the AI is used to sell or influence, others more broadly.
Never claim to be human
Whatever your jurisdiction requires, do not instruct the assistant to deny being an AI when asked directly. Aside from the legal exposure, a caller who catches you in it will not trust anything else they were told.
How to disclose
The simplest approach is the opening message:
"Thanks for calling Northgate Dental. I'm Sarah, an AI assistant — I can book you in or answer questions, and I'll put you through to the team whenever you'd like."
That discloses, sets expectation, and offers the escape route in one line. In practice callers accept this readily — what upsets people is discovering it later.
Practical checklist
Decide whether your jurisdiction and your callers' require recording consent.
Decide whether AI disclosure applies to you.
Put whatever is needed in the opening message, not buried later.
Give callers a working way to reach a human — see Transfers & escalation.
Make sure the assistant never denies being an AI.
Know how you would honour a deletion request for a recording.
Data handling
Recordings, transcripts and summaries are stored against the call record. Access is controlled by your team's roles — see Team & roles.
For a data processing agreement or details of sub-processors, contact support.
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