AI disclosure

AI disclosure means telling people, plainly and at the start, that they are talking with an AI system rather than a person, whether on a phone call, in a text thread or in a web chat.

General information for clinics in the United States. This is not legal advice; ask your own counsel how the rules apply to your clinic.

For a vet clinic, the question comes up as soon as software answers the phone or replies to messages. Callers make different choices when they know who they are talking to. Some are happy to book with an AI. Others want a person, and they should be able to get one without a struggle.

Why it matters

In the United States, several states have passed laws about disclosing automated systems or AI in certain conversations, and more proposals appear each year. The rules differ in what they cover and when they apply. Federal regulators have also said that existing calling rules apply to AI-generated voices. Because the picture keeps changing, many businesses choose to disclose every time rather than work out case by case whether they must.

Trust is the other reason. A client who finds out halfway through a call that the "receptionist" was software may feel misled, even if no law was broken. A short, honest opening line avoids that.

What good disclosure looks like

Good disclosure is early, in the caller's language and hard to miss. It says what the system is, names the clinic it works for, and tells the caller how to reach a person. It doesn't use a staff member's name or a title such as "Dr", and if someone asks "Am I talking to a real person?", the answer is a straight yes or no.

An example

A clinic adds an AI front desk for evening calls. The greeting starts with the assistant's name, the words "AI assistant" and the clinic's name, then says the caller can ask for a person at any time. The team checks that the same opening appears in English and in Spanish, and on texts as well as calls.

How Tilly handles it

Every call and every new message thread starts with a line like "Hi, I'm Tilly, the AI assistant at Maple Street Animal Hospital," in the caller's language. You can rename Tilly, but the name can't be a person's name from your team, can't include titles like "Dr" or "Vet", and the words "AI assistant" always stay. If a caller asks whether they're talking to a real person, Tilly says it's an AI and offers to connect them to your team.

For more, read is AI safe on vet clinic phones? and the vet clinic phone compliance guide.