Is it legal to record calls with an AI receptionist?

Insights Trust and legal 4 min read

Recording calls with an AI receptionist is legal when consent rules are met, and those rules vary by state. Some need only one party to agree, others need everyone on the line. We do not try to work out where a caller is sitting, so every call gets a recorded notice before the assistant speaks.

A shield containing a record dot, labelled recorded, representing call recording handled with disclosure
Recording is what makes the transcript and the summary possible.

This describes how we operate. It is not legal advice, and recording law changes. If you are in a regulated trade or unsure about your state, ask a lawyer rather than a website.

Why the state question is a trap

The usual advice is to find out whether your state is one-party or all-party and act accordingly. That works fine for a conversation between two people who know each other. It falls apart on a business line, because you do not know where the person calling you is sitting, and an area code tells you where a number was issued, not where its owner is standing.

So the question is not really which state you are in. It is whether you are willing to bet on where every caller is.

Two sequential blocks where the first must finish before the second begins, showing a disclosure that plays before the assistant can speak
The notice finishes before the assistant can say a word.

What we do instead

Every call gets the same recorded notice before the assistant is able to say anything: the call may be recorded, and the caller is speaking with an AI assistant. It plays on every single call, with no exception for repeat callers, and the assistant cannot begin until it has finished.

That last detail is deliberate and it is the part most systems get wrong. If the notice is something the assistant says, it is a line of text that can be skipped, overwritten by a custom greeting, or talked over. Ours plays before the assistant exists on the call, so there is no moment in which it can be bypassed. It is also identical on every call, which is what makes it something you could actually stand behind if anyone ever asked.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Recording is what makes everything else work. It is where the transcript comes from, how the summary reaches your phone, and how you check what was actually promised to a customer. A system that quietly records without telling anyone is not saving you a step, it is storing a problem.

The fastest way to find out

Call (888) 997-6457 and talk to ours. It is the same assistant we build for customers, answering our own phone. Judge it yourself rather than taking our word for it.

See it working on your own website

Related questions

What is the difference between one-party and all-party consent?
In a one-party state, one person on the call agreeing is enough, and that can be you. In an all-party state, everyone has to be aware. Because a caller could be anywhere, the safe approach is to treat every call as though all-party rules apply.
Do you have to say it is an AI, as well as that it is recorded?
Several states have introduced or passed rules requiring disclosure when a person is talking to an AI rather than a human, and the direction of travel is clear. We disclose both in the same notice, which also happens to be the honest thing to do.
Can a caller opt out of being recorded?
They can hang up, and some will, which is their right. In practice almost nobody does, because a recording notice is what people already expect when they call a business.