Nothing here is legal advice. It is the checklist we hand to a lawyer, with the sources, and the reason the receptionist is built the way it is.
Inbound is outside the TCPA, in the FCC’s words
The 2024 ruling that AI voices count as artificial or prerecorded under the TCPA applies to calls a business makes. The FCC’s own notice of proposed rulemaking (FCC 24-84, 08.08.2024) states that the TCPA’s prohibition extends only to outbound calls and that its requirements do not extend to technologies used to answer inbound calls. An AI receptionist answering your line is inbound.
The outbound half is regulated
Missed-call text back, reminders and any automated callback are communications the business initiates: prior express consent, identification, and an opt-out on anything promotional, under the TCPA in the US and CASL and the CRTC rules in Canada. The consent has to be captured at intake, which is exactly what the receptionist can do on the first call.
Say it is an AI, and say the call is recorded
Maine’s Chatbot Disclosure Act, effective 24.09.2025, requires disclosure and covers voice. Utah’s AI Policy Act requires a truthful answer when asked and rewards disclosure at the outset. Colorado is in flux until 01.01.2027. California’s and New Jersey’s bot laws do not reach phone calls. One greeting satisfies all of them and the pending FCC proposal at once, which is why the receptionist opens every call the same way.
Recording consent
Twelve to fifteen US states require all-party consent, California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, Massachusetts and Maryland among them, and an interstate call follows the stricter state. Every voice AI platform records and transcribes by default, so the notice plays before any data is collected, and a retention policy is written down. In Canada, PIPEDA requires saying the call is recorded, stating the purpose and offering a route for a caller who objects; Alberta, BC and Quebec add their own acts, and Quebec’s Law 25 applies where a decision rests solely on automated processing.
What we promise, and what we do not
We set the greeting, the recording notice and the retention to what your counsel requires, and we put it in writing. We do not tell a client that a setup is compliant. That is a lawyer’s sentence, not ours.