Blog · Voice · · 3 min read
Should an AI sales agent say it is an AI? Always.
The EU AI Act's transparency rule has been in force since 2 August 2026. Why our agent says it is an AI in the first sentence, everywhere, and what else it never does.
A voice agent good enough to be mistaken for a person has to decide whether to let that happen. Ours doesn't, and this post is about why, and about the other lines it never crosses.
The first sentence
Every call starts with the same facts: this is an AI assistant, and the call is recorded and processed. On the company line, the reception desk plays an eighteen-word notice before anything else, and the caller's audio is held back until it has played, so nobody is recorded before they have been told.
The EU AI Act's transparency rule has been in force since 2 August 2026: people must be told when they are talking to an AI. We apply it to every caller, in the Gulf and everywhere else, because the reason for the rule does not stop at a border.
Does it cost sales?
Callers ring a parts trader to get a part, not to chat. What they care about is whether the number is right, whether you have it and when it arrives. An agent that says what it is, then gets the number right and writes it down, is more useful than a person who does not pick up at two in the morning.
What the agent never says
- A price, a cost or a supplier's name: tool results that mention them are withheld from the agent.
- That nobody is available: a caller who asks for a person is put through by name.
- A promise your team has not made: quotations follow in writing, from a person.
Who it never calls
Do-not-call is checked before every dial, by the server. Marketing calls have rules of their own: in the UAE, Resolution 56 requires prior approval, allows them only between 09:00 and 18:00 and requires a check against the Do Not Call Registry. The EU and the US are stricter still about automated calls. The desk is built for warm calls: callbacks, quote follow-ups and customers you already know.
What your team can always do
- Read every call as it happens, and end it if need be.
- Send the agent a note it acts on in its next sentence.
- End any call from the desk, including one that is still ringing.
Customers forgive a robot. They do not forgive being fooled by one.
How the notice sounds
The notice is short on purpose: the company's name, that the caller is speaking with an AI assistant, that the call is recorded and processed, and that staying on the line means they agree. It is played in the caller's language, and it is edited by your team on the desk, not hidden in code. Then the agent gets on with the call: the machine, the part number, when they need it and where it goes. Most callers never mention the notice again. The ones who ask for a person are put through to one, by name.
The systems: TERRA-101 CALL, TERRA-104 RECEPTION, TERRA-110 LOOKUP and TERRA-408 DNC.
Questions
Does the AI agent say it is an AI?
Always, in the first sentence, together with the notice that the call is recorded.
Is disclosure required by law?
The EU AI Act's transparency rule, in force since 2 August 2026, requires it; we apply it to every caller.
Can it make cold calls?
It can call any list you are entitled to contact, but it is built for warm calls and checks do-not-call before every dial.