Does California AB 2905 apply to an inbound AI receptionist?
- The short answer
- California AB 2905 does not apply to an inbound AI receptionist. AB 2905 regulates automatic dialing-announcing devices, which are machines that place calls, so it governs outbound calling. California has no statute that sets a disclosure rule for an AI answering calls a customer made. For inbound calls, the live rules sit in Maine (§1500-DD) and in Utah, for regulated occupations.
The longer answer
Two claims about California circulate on AI receptionist sites, and both are wrong for inbound calls. One says AB 2905 makes every AI voice disclose itself. Another says the B.O.T. Act, SB 1001, covers phone bots.
AB 2905 is about calls a business places. It sits in California's rules for automatic dialing-announcing devices, the systems that dial numbers and play a message. When your customer rings you, nothing is being dialled by you, so the law has nothing to attach to. Some pages pair it with a per-call penalty figure. That figure belongs to outbound dialling and says nothing about your front desk.
SB 1001 is about online bots. Its bot is an automated online account on a website, web app or digital app. A voice answering your inbound phone line is outside that definition. You won't find a phone-call clause in it.
Where inbound AI disclosure rules actually apply
Maine is the clearest case. Title 10 §1500-DD has been in effect since October 1, 2025. It says an AI chatbot used in trade or commerce must not lead a reasonable consumer to think they're talking to a human. A clear and conspicuous notice meets that duty, and the law covers textual or aural conversation. A spoken AI receptionist is aural, so it's in scope.
Utah is the second. Utah's AI Policy Act (SB 149, amended by SB 226) took effect in its current form on May 7, 2025. It requires regulated occupations to disclose verbally at the start of the conversation. Medical, legal, accounting, nursing and psychology practices are among them.
If your business is in California and all your callers are too, no state statute requires the disclosure today. You can still announce it. A caller who finds out later can feel misled, and a one-line greeting costs you nothing. This page is general information about the statutes, not legal advice for your business.
How GreetKeeper handles it
GreetKeeper treats AI disclosure as a setting you control. Switch it on and the assistant says it's an AI in its opening line, before the caller explains why they rang. It puts the notice where Maine and Utah ask for it, at the very start of the call.
You write the wording. Say you run a dental office in Utah. Your greeting might give the practice name first. One plain line then tells the caller they're talking to an AI assistant that can book or transfer them. A plumber in Sacramento can use the same line or leave it out.
Call recording is configurable too, with its own disclosure line. Recording consent is a separate question from AI disclosure, so GreetKeeper keeps the two settings apart.
California AI voice law questions
Does the California B.O.T. Act apply to phone calls?
SB 1001 defines a bot as an automated online account on a website, web app or digital app. A phone line answering an inbound call is outside that definition. Lawmakers wrote it for online accounts that pretend to be people.
Is AB 2905 in effect for AI voices on outbound calls?
AB 2905 governs automatic dialing-announcing devices, so it matters to any business that places automated calls. GreetKeeper answers inbound calls, which keeps it outside the statute's subject. Outbound campaigns are a separate question for your counsel.
Which states require an inbound AI receptionist to say it's AI?
Maine's §1500-DD reaches any AI in trade or commerce that could mislead a consumer, including aural conversations. Utah requires verbal disclosure at the start of the call in regulated occupations. State laws are moving, so check your own state's current law before you rely on silence.
Hear it take one of your calls
Two minutes, your own scenario, no card.