AI disclosure and call recording
Most pages on this subject describe outbound robocall law and attach it to a product that answers the phone. Here is what we think actually applies, with the dates, and what we could not settle.
The short version
- Answering calls people place to you is not the same activity the TCPA robocall rules govern. Those cover calls a business places out.
- Maine requires notice for AI conversations in trade or commerce, and its definition covers spoken ones. That reaches an inbound receptionist.
- Utah requires a verbal disclosure at the start for state-licensed professions, which includes dentistry, medicine and law.
- Recording consent rules vary by state and the published lists disagree with each other, so treat any confident list you read with suspicion.
Inbound and outbound are different activities
This distinction decides most of the page, and it is the one competitor content gets wrong.
In February 2024 the FCC said an AI-generated voice counts as an artificial or prerecorded voice under the TCPA. Read the ruling and it addresses calls a business places to a consumer: prior consent, identification, an opt-out, and damages of $500 to $1,500 a call with no cap.
GreetKeeper answers calls that people dial to your business. That is a different activity from placing calls out, and the robocall framework was built for the second one. Where it gets repeated at products like ours, the citation usually is not checked.
That is not a blanket exemption. The state rules below are consumer-protection and recording law, and several of them reach an inbound call perfectly well.
State rules that do reach an inbound AI receptionist
Two we are confident about, and one that is widely misreported.
| Where | What it requires | Does it reach inbound? |
|---|---|---|
| Maine, Title 10 §1500-DD, in effect since 1 October 2025 | You may not use an AI chatbot in trade or commerce in a way that could mislead a reasonable consumer into thinking they are dealing with a human, unless they are clearly and conspicuously notified. The definition covers textual and aural conversation. | Yes. This is the clearest inbound-facing disclosure duty we found. |
| Utah AI Policy Act, SB 149 as amended by SB 226, in effect since 7 May 2025 | General consumer interactions need a disclosure when the consumer asks. State-licensed occupations, including medicine, law, accounting, nursing and psychology, must disclose prominently and verbally at the start. | Yes, and it lands directly on dental, medical and legal practices. |
| California AB 2905, in effect since 1 January 2025 | Requires telling the person called that a prerecorded message uses an artificial voice. The statute applies to calls placed through an automatic dialing-announcing device. | No. It is outbound-only. Several vendor pages present it as governing inbound AI receptionists and attach a $500-per-call figure to it. |
Read against the primary statutes in September 2026. Texas and Colorado are both in motion and we have deliberately left them out rather than describe them from secondary sources.
Call recording
An AI receptionist transcribes by default, so this applies to you whether or not you keep audio.
Some states require every party to consent to a recorded call rather than just one. California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington appear on every list we checked. Nevada, Connecticut and Oregon appear on some and not others, Oregon and Connecticut treat phone and in-person differently, and Michigan and Vermont are genuinely unsettled.
That disagreement is the finding. Anyone publishing a confident list of eleven or twelve states has picked a source and stopped. We would rather tell you the ground is uneven and hand you the switch.
GreetKeeper can announce that a call is recorded, and you control the wording and whether it plays at all. Set it on if you take calls from any of the states above, which in practice means set it on.
What we do not claim
Questions we get
Do I have to tell callers it is an AI?
In Maine yes, and in Utah yes for licensed professions, verbally and at the start. Elsewhere there is no general inbound requirement as of September 2026. We would still turn it on: callers who know they are talking to an assistant tend to give cleaner information, and the rules are moving one way.
Is an AI receptionist legal?
Yes. Answering your own phone with software is lawful. The obligations that attach are about disclosure and recording, not about whether you may do it.
Does the TCPA apply to us?
The February 2024 AI-voice ruling addresses calls a business places out to consumers. GreetKeeper answers calls placed to you. If you also run outbound campaigns, that activity is governed separately and this page does not cover it.
Can I use this in a dental or medical practice?
Practices do use AI answering for scheduling and inquiries. Keep it scoped to booking and general questions, keep clinical detail in your practice system, and remember Utah requires a verbal disclosure at the start for licensed professions. Since we make no HIPAA claim, bring your own counsel into that decision.
What if the rules change?
They will. Texas and Colorado both have measures in motion, and the FCC proposal could still land. The disclosure and recording settings are switches for exactly that reason.
See how the disclosure sounds
Hear the greeting with the AI notice switched on, in your own words.