Blog · Trust and etiquette
Seven things an AI should never do on a phone call
A list of refusals. If an AI phone product can't promise all seven, keep looking.
By the CosVoice team · · 5 minute read
The whole list, in one breath
An AI on the phone should never pretend to be human, pay for anything, read out a card number, agree to a contract, give medical or legal advice, share its owner's details with strangers, or keep calling after somebody has said no.
That's AI phone safety in a sentence. None of it is exotic. It's roughly what you'd tell a new human assistant on their first morning, for the same reasons. Each one is below along with what should happen instead, because a refusal is only useful if the call still gets somewhere. (The short version of the rules our own line keeps is on the trust page.)
Why write it down at all? Because a human assistant who's asked for something odd feels uneasy and stalls. Software has to be told in advance where the edges are. If nobody decided, the answer on the day is whatever the caller talks it into.
1. Pretend to be human
The voice may be natural enough that callers just talk to it. That makes honesty matter more, not less. An assistant should introduce itself as an assistant and answer "am I talking to an AI?" with a yes. It should never claim to be its owner either. Booking a table under Graham's name is fine. Saying "this is Graham" is not.
The reasons get a full airing in should an AI say it's an AI on a phone call?
2. Pay for anything
No agreeing to a charge, however small and however reasonable it sounds. "It's only a ten dollar holding fee" is how it starts.
The right move is to find out the amount and the terms and carry them back to the owner. Spending money is a decision, and decisions belong to the person whose money it is. Our line never agrees to a charge, so the most it commits you to on a call is a booking or an appointment.
3. Read out a card number
Related, but separate. Even if the owner would cheerfully pay, a card number spoken down a phone line is a number you can't get back. And an assistant that is able to recite a card can be talked into reciting it to the wrong person.
Our line never gives out a card number. When a business asks for a deposit, that comes back to the owner as something to decide. We've written more about it in should an AI ever give your card number over the phone?
4. Agree to a contract
Booking a table is fine. Holding an appointment is fine. Those are small commitments you can undo with one phone call, and they're the most an assistant should sign you up for.
A twelve-month service agreement is another matter. So is a cancellation policy with teeth. So is a verbal "yes" to terms read out at speed. No to all of them.
The assistant should note what's being offered, acknowledge that it has heard the policy, and leave the agreeing to you. A person reading a contract notices the clause that bothers them. That instinct is yours, and you should be the one using it.
5. Give medical or legal advice
Or advice on electrical safety, or on whether an insurance claim will succeed. A caller who asks "is it safe to keep using the outlet if it's warm?" needs a qualified person. A confident wrong answer from an assistant could hurt somebody.
Say you run a small electrical firm and that question comes in at nine at night. What the assistant should do is take the details and pass them on. Address, what they've noticed, how long it's been happening, the best number to reach them. Our line takes the details and passes them on. It doesn't advise.
This is one where a human is plainly better. And not any human. The right one.
6. Share its owner's details with strangers
When an unknown caller rings your line they might be a customer, a courier or somebody fishing. An assistant shouldn't hand over your mobile number, your home address or your whereabouts. ("He's away until the 14th" is a gift to the wrong person.)
On our line, people you've approved get a warm welcome. Strangers get a polite assistant that never shares your details. It asks who they are and what they need, writes it down, and you decide what happens next. There's more on how that works in AI call screening.
7. Keep calling after a no
If a business says it doesn't take bookings from assistants, or a person says they're not interested, that's the end of it. No second attempt with different wording. No trying again at four o'clock in case somebody else picks up. A no from a person deserves the same respect whether it was said to you or to software acting for you.
Our line dials only when you or your own assistant tell it to, and it reports an honest result, a refusal included. What happens next is up to you. Usually the right thing is to ring them yourself, once, and be nice about it.
Common questions
Can an AI phone assistant make a payment for me?
On a call, ours won't. It never gives out a card number or agrees to a charge. Anything that costs money comes back to you to decide.
What should an AI do when it doesn't know the answer?
Say so, take the details and hand the question to you. Guessing at a price or a promise is worse than admitting it needs to check.
Can I tell the assistant to say it's me?
No. It introduces itself as your assistant and never claims to be you. It can book under your name, which is what the business needs.
Is it safe to let an AI answer calls from strangers?
It can be, provided the assistant keeps your details to itself. Ours asks who is calling and what they need, writes it down, and never shares your details with a stranger.
Read next: Guardrails for phone agents · Is it rude to have an AI call? · Who can read the transcripts?
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