Recording a call
In short
Recording a confidential call, or a call between a cell or cordless phone and another cell, cordless or landline phone, takes the consent of everyone on it under Penal Code sections 632 and 632.7. Whether your line records, and how it tells callers, is yours to set with your lawyer.
Section 632 defines a confidential communication as one carried on in circumstances that reasonably suggest a party wants it confined to the people on it, and leaves out a public gathering and any setting where the parties may reasonably expect to be overheard or recorded. Section 632.7 covers a call between a cell or cordless phone and another cell, cordless or landline phone, and its text does not ask whether the call is confidential. In 2021 the Supreme Court of California held, in Smith v. LoanMe, that section 632.7 binds the parties to a call as well as outsiders.
An AI receptionist has to hear a call to answer it, and the software turns the caller's words into text as the call goes. On our builds, keeping a call's audio is off until you turn it on with a notice your lawyer has approved, and a text log of each conversation is kept in your own account either way. If the receptionist is ever down, a voicemail greeting says your notice before the tone and keeps the caller's message as audio on either setting. The recording sections set out here do not mention transcripts, so whether your notice should cover the log and the voicemail is one of the questions for your lawyer.
Two nearby sections matter as well. Section 631 covers anyone who willfully reads or tries to learn the contents of a communication in transit without the consent of all parties, or in any unauthorized manner, and section 637.2 lets a person injured by a violation of the chapter sue for the greater of two amounts: a fixed sum the section sets for each violation, or three times the actual damages. How either applies to software that listens to a call in order to answer it is for your lawyer to say.
One 2026 change leaves the recording rules as they were. SB 690, signed on September 30, 2026, amends section 637.2 so that, once it takes effect, only the Attorney General may bring an action under it against a private party over a pen register or a trap and trace device on a website or an app, and it does not amend sections 632 or 632.7.
Saying it is AI
In short
California's bot law, SB 1001, makes it unlawful to use a bot online with the intent to deceive a person in California about its artificial identity, for the purpose of knowingly deceiving them about the content of the conversation, to make a sale or sway a vote; a person who discloses that the bot is a bot is not liable under it. Whether it reaches a phone line is a question for your lawyer, and what your receptionist says about itself is your setting.
The law sits in Business and Professions Code sections 17940 to 17943 and has been operative since July 1, 2019. Its definition of online covers public-facing websites, web applications and digital applications, and its words say nothing about phone calls, so whether it reaches a call your receptionist answers is a question for your lawyer. The website chat we build says it is AI in its first message.
On calls, ours answers by name and says it is an automated receptionist when a caller asks, and it never claims to be a person. Your greeting can say so from the first words, and the wording you choose is written into the plan before launch.
Calls a business places with an AI voice follow other rules, federal and Californian, and they are a subject of their own. This guide covers the calls your receptionist answers.
AI messages to patients
In short
Under Health and Safety Code section 1339.75, a health facility, clinic, physician's office or office of a group practice in California that uses generative AI to write patient messages about clinical information must say they came from AI and tell the patient how to reach a person. Appointment scheduling is outside what that law calls a patient's clinical information.
For an audio message, the law asks for the disclaimer at the start and at the end of the interaction, and it does not apply when a licensed or certified health care provider reads and reviews the message. It has been in force since January 1, 2025. Whether a dental office or another practice falls within its list is a question for your lawyer.
We do not offer a BAA today, so we build no AI job where patients' health details would reach it, and for a medical or dental practice the written plan settles that first. Whether a vendor needs an agreement with your practice under HIPAA is a question for your practice and its adviser.
What this means for a small business
In short
Settle the rules with your lawyer before your receptionist takes its first call, and have them written into the plan your line is built from. The table lists the questions and the law each one comes from.
Our written plan lists these questions for your lawyer, with the setting we would build for each answer, and the receptionist is built to the answers you give. We do not give legal advice.
The laws here were read on October 15, 2026, and laws change. This is general information, not legal advice. Your rules are yours to set with your own lawyer.
| The question | Where it comes from | |
|---|---|---|
| The notice | Does a notice play at the start of each call, and what does it say? | Penal Code sections 632 and 632.7 |
| What is kept | Should the notice mention the text log, the summary and the voicemail? How long is each kept, within the platform's own terms? | Penal Code sections 631, 632 and 632.7 |
| Saying it is AI | What does the greeting say, and what does the receptionist answer when asked? | Business and Professions Code section 17941, written for bots online |
| Patient messages | Is your practice one the law lists, and will the receptionist handle anything about a patient's clinical information? | Health and Safety Code section 1339.75 |
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