Glossary
Bot disclosure
What bot disclosure means, and what California's bot law says about it.
Updated
Bot disclosure: Bot disclosure is a plain statement that a visitor or caller is dealing with software, not a person. California's bot law, SB 1001, has been operative since July 1, 2019. It makes it unlawful to use a bot online with the intent of hiding that it is a bot from someone in California, so as to knowingly deceive them about what it says in order to drive a sale or sway a vote. Under the same section, a person who discloses that it is a bot is not liable, and the disclosure has to be clear and conspicuous, so the people the bot talks with know what it is.
Where it shows up
It shows up as the first line of a website chat, or when an AI receptionist answers a caller who asks whether it is a person. The statute counts any public-facing website or app as online, social networks included, and whether it reaches a given chat is a question for a lawyer.
A website chat we set up opens by telling the visitor it is AI. The receptionist on our own line gives its name and says it is automated when a caller asks; on a client's line, saying so up front is the client's setting, written down before launch. Either way it is set never to claim to be a person.
Related terms
- Large language modelWhat a large language model is, and what it needs from a business before it can answer that business's customers.
- Human handoffWhat a human handoff is, and what should happen when a caller or a chat visitor asks an AI for a person.
- TCPAWhat the TCPA is, the federal law on automated calls and texts, and what it asks of a business that calls with an AI voice.
- Every term in the glossary
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