AI phone assistants and the EU AI Act: disclosing it's an AI

Since 2 August 2026, an AI phone assistant operating in the European Union must tell callers they are talking to an AI. This comes from Article 50 of the AI Act, the EU regulation on artificial intelligence. The disclosure has to come at the latest at the start of the conversation, and it has to be clear. If you use an AI receptionist or an AI-powered answering service, it may be time to review how your calls open.

Below: what the rule says, who it applies to, and how to follow it without making calls longer or colder.

What Article 50 of the AI Act says

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, better known as the AI Act, sets out transparency obligations in Article 50. Its first paragraph covers systems that talk to people: providers must design them so that people know they are interacting with an AI system, unless that is obvious from the context.

Two details matter on the phone:

• Timing. Under paragraph 5, the information must be given in a clear and distinguishable way at the latest at the time of the first interaction. Not halfway through the call, and not in a notice buried on a website.
• The "obvious" exception. In a chat window you can argue a bot is obviously a bot. On the phone, with today's synthetic voices, it almost never is. In practice the exception does not apply.

The obligation has applied since 2 August 2026, as the explainers published over the summer also point out (MilanoFinanza, in Italian).

Who it applies to: provider and business

Article 50(1) places the obligation on the provider of the system, the company that builds the assistant and makes it available. But the business that uses it to answer its own customers, whether a clinic, a restaurant or a garage, has every reason to check: it is their phone number and their reputation.

Three questions to ask your provider:

1. Does the assistant introduce itself as an AI on every call, including out of hours and on public holidays?
2. Can the opening line be customised without losing the disclosure?
3. When the assistant hands the call to a person, does the caller know the other side has changed?

How to do it: the opening line

One sentence is enough to comply. What matters is writing it well, because it is also the first impression your business makes on the phone.

A few examples that work:

• "Good morning, Rossi Dental. I'm the practice's AI assistant: I can book an appointment or take a message. How can I help?"
• "Hi, you've reached Marco's Trattoria. This is the restaurant's AI assistant: would you like to book a table?"

What they have in common:

• The disclosure comes first, in the opening sentence, before any question.
• It uses plain words: "AI assistant", not technical jargon.
• It is followed by a concrete offer: book, get information, speak to a person. Callers know what they can do.

Avoid openings that impersonate a person ("Hi, this is Julia, how can I help?") with nothing else, or a disclosure hidden at the end of a long recorded message.

When to repeat it

The rule asks for disclosure at the first interaction. It is good practice to make it explicit again at certain moments:

Situation	What to do
The caller asks "am I talking to a real person?"	Always tell the truth, plainly
The conversation turns to health, money or personal data	Remind them an AI assistant is answering and offer a person
The call is transferred to a member of staff	Announce the handover ("I'll put you through to a colleague")
Outbound calls (reminders, call-backs)	Introduce the AI assistant in the first sentence, as for inbound calls

Transparency and privacy go together

The AI Act does not replace the GDPR. If the assistant records or transcribes calls, or collects names, numbers and reasons for calling, the information duties of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, and Article 13 in particular, still apply. The business has to explain what data it collects, why, and how long it keeps it.

A transparent opening helps here too: a caller who knows they are talking to an automated system understands why certain details are requested, and can choose to speak to a person instead.

Penalties

Article 99 of the AI Act provides for administrative fines of up to 15 million euros or up to 3% of total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, for breaches of Article 50. For SMEs, start-ups included, the lower of the two amounts applies instead (paragraph 6). For a local business, though, the real risk is different: a customer who feels deceived rarely calls back.

Quick checklist

• The assistant says it is an AI in the first sentence of every call, inbound and outbound.
• The opening line is short and immediately offers something useful.
• The answer to "are you a person?" is always honest.
• There is always a way to reach a person or leave a message.
• Your privacy notice covers recordings and transcripts, if you use them.
• Transfers to staff are announced.

How yourang.ai handles it

yourang.ai assistants introduce themselves as AI assistants at the start of every call: for us it is a legal duty and, before that, a choice. The opening line can be tailored to your business's tone of voice, call routing rules decide when a person takes over, and calls can be recorded and transcribed, so you can always check what was said.

Want to hear what a transparent opening sounds like? Book a demo: we will let you hear the assistant set up for a case like yours, from the opening line to booking the appointment. To see how it would work for your business, visit the yourang.ai home page or the integrations with calendars and CRMs.

This article is for information only and is not legal advice. For specific cases, consult a qualified professional.