Is it legal for an AI to answer your business calls? What about recording, AI disclosure, consent, calling hours, and opt-outs? Plain-English answers — with the exact law behind each one — for businesses putting AI on the phone.
Start a conversation↗Compliance, in plain English
No federal or Washington law bans an AI from answering your business calls. What the law regulates is how calls are handled: recording consent, disclosures, consent before outbound calls or texts, calling hours, and honoring opt-outs. This page answers the ten questions we hear most, with the statute or FCC order behind each answer and how a properly built system handles it. Covers federal rules, Washington in detail, plus PA, CA, FL, ME, and UT. Last updated October 4, 2026.
Our AI phone system has compliance built in, not bolted on: disclosures play automatically, consent is captured and stored, calling hours are enforced by the clock, and every opt-out is honored and logged.See the AI phone system →
Yes, in Washington. It is an all-party consent state: announce “this call is being recorded” before recording starts, and capture the announcement on the recording itself. Violation is a gross misdemeanor — up to 364 days and/or $5,000. (RCW 9.73.030)
Yes. The FCC ruled unanimously in 2024 that AI-generated voices are “artificial voice” under the TCPA. Every outbound AI-voice call needs consent — written for marketing — at $500 to $1,500 per violation. No carve-out for technology that feels like a live agent.
Marketing calls or texts to wireless numbers need prior express written consent naming your business. Informational outreach needs prior express consent. Texts count as calls. We capture written consent nationwide and archive every record — who, when, and the exact wording.
Federal telemarketing: 8 a.m.–9 p.m. recipient’s local time. Washington: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. Pennsylvania (from Oct 18, 2026): 9–7, Monday–Saturday only, no Sundays or holidays. Our system enforces the strictest applicable window by timezone.
You stop — within 10 business days, via any reasonable method: the seven standard keywords or plain language like “don’t text me anymore.” One confirmation text max. Our system suppresses automatically and logs every revocation with a timestamp.
The carrier system for business texting. Register your Brand and Campaign before your first text — since February 2025, carriers block unregistered business texts outright. We register before the first message goes out and keep the registration maintained.
Penalties, per violation
$500
per TCPA violation — up to $1,500 if willful. Each call or text is a separate violation.
A thousand-call campaign at $500 each is $500,000 of exposure. Class actions multiply it further — and private lawsuits are the enforcement engine.
NFIB · Small Business and Technology · June 2025 ↗$3K
per Pennsylvania Act 47 violation when the recipient is 60 or older (from Oct 18, 2026); otherwise $1,000 per violation.
Washington recording violations add criminal exposure: gross misdemeanor, up to 364 days and/or $5,000, plus civil damages and the caller’s attorney’s fees.
Brynjolfsson, Li & Raymond · Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2025 ↗The highest-risk item
Under RCW 9.73.030, recording a private call without everyone’s consent is unlawful — and courts presume a normal business call is private. The fix is the announcement exception: announce “this call is being recorded” before recording starts, and capture the announcement itself on the recording. Staying on the line after a clear announcement counts as consent.
Maine expressly requires AI disclosure on voice calls in commerce; California requires it on certain prerecorded-message calls. There is no federal on-call AI disclosure law yet — but our AI identifies itself early anyway: “You’re speaking with an AI assistant, and this call is being recorded.” Trust is the product.
In 2026 the Fifth Circuit allowed oral consent for AI calls — but only in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The FCC’s written-consent rule still stands nationally. We don’t gamble: written consent before any AI-voice marketing, nationwide, with every consent record archived.
Calling hours
Federal telemarketing runs 8 a.m.–9 p.m. recipient-local; Washington tightens it to 8 p.m.; Florida matches 8–8; Pennsylvania goes 9–7, Monday–Saturday only, from October 18, 2026. Whether quiet hours cover texts is unsettled — and plaintiff firms are testing it. We enforce hard stops by timezone, with Sunday and holiday suppression where required.
Watchlist: the FCC’s September 2026 revocation order (category-specific opt-outs) is adopted but not yet effective. Oklahoma’s SB 1521 would require conversational-AI disclosures from July 2027 if enacted. We update this page the Friday after any of them take effect.
Sources
Federal: the TCPA (47 U.S.C. 227), FCC rules (47 CFR 64.1200), the FCC’s 2024 AI-voice ruling, and the Truth in Caller ID Act. Washington: RCW 9.73.030, 9.73.060, 9.73.080, 19.158.040, and 80.36.400. Plus Pennsylvania Act 47, California Penal Code 632, Florida 501.059, Maine LD 1727, and Utah SB 149.
Key sources are linked below. We deliberately leave unverified claims off this page — if you read about an AI-calling law not listed here, tell us and we’ll check it.
Built-in, not bolted on
Recording and AI-identity disclosures play before anything is captured — on every call, in every state. The strictest rule wins by default.
Written consent captured and archived before outbound marketing; timezone-aware scheduling with hard stops, plus Sunday and holiday suppression where required.
All seven STOP keywords plus plain-language requests route straight to suppression — no human in the loop. Every revocation is timestamped with its confirmation text.
Questions, answered
Straight answers, no sales pitch. If your question isn’t here, call (425) 504-7900 — a person picks up.
Yes, with the right setup. No federal or Washington law bans AI from answering inbound calls. What matters is how calls are handled: recording consent, disclosures, consent before outbound outreach, calling hours, and opt-outs. Get those right and you’re on solid ground.
Yes. Use a STIR/SHAKEN provider in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database with A-level attestation, never spoof caller ID ($10,000 per violation), and keep number-authorization records. Enforcement in 2026 is aggressive and aimed upstream.
Please read this
This page is general information about AI phone-system compliance — not legal advice, and we’re not a law firm. Rules change and apply differently to different businesses. Consult your attorney before implementing any of this. We review this page every Friday.
The Agency LLC · Lake Stevens, WA · (425) 504-7900.
Start with compliance
Missed calls cost you jobs. Compliance mistakes cost you more. Our AI phone system answers every call, discloses what the law requires, and keeps the records to prove it.
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Why it works
Disclosures before capture, written consent before outreach, hard stops by timezone, suppression without delay. The process failures that create penalties are the ones the system prevents.
Reviewed every Friday.
Continue exploring
Laws change; this page keeps up. Every rule links to its source, and we update it the Friday after any tracked proposal takes effect.
Call (425) 504-7900 or start a conversation at theagencyllc.net — a person picks up, and the AI never sleeps.
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