Do you have to tell customers when you use AI to answer or write to them?

Ascent Vision · Published October 24, 2026

It depends on the state and the use. The U.S. Small Business Administration's guide says no federal or state laws currently require businesses to disclose AI use, and that disclosure is becoming an expected best practice. Utah's code, though, requires a supplier whose generative AI interacts with a person in a consumer transaction to say so when the person clearly asks. As general advice, tell customers plainly anyway. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

What the SBA says

The SBA's business guide says that while there are currently no federal or state laws that require businesses to disclose the use of AI, it is "becoming an expected best practice", and it suggests considering a public statement on how your business uses AI. That is the agency's summary and advice, not a ruling; this answer differs on one point, because at least one state's code has a disclosure rule for one use.

Utah's rule for AI that talks with customers

Section 13-77-103 of the Utah Code, in effect since May 7, 2025, says a supplier that uses generative AI to interact with a person in connection with a consumer transaction must disclose that the person is interacting with generative AI and not a human, if the person asks or otherwise prompts the supplier about it. The question must be "a clear and unambiguous request" to find out. For regulated occupations, it requires prominent disclosure at the start when the use counts as a high-risk interaction.

The next section, 13-77-104, says a person is not subject to enforcement under that rule if their generative AI clearly and conspicuously discloses, at the outset and throughout, that it is generative AI, is not human, or is an AI assistant.

What it does not do: outside regulated occupations, section 103 does not require generative AI to announce itself unprompted; it requires a true answer when someone clearly asks. Other states may set different rules, or none, and this answer does not survey them. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

Why telling customers is usually wise

In a Pew Research Center survey of 5,023 U.S. adults in June 2025, 76% said it is extremely or very important to be able to tell whether pictures, videos and text were made by AI or by people, and 53% were not too or not at all confident they could tell.

Google's guidance on generative AI content says sharing how a piece of content was created "can help give your readers more context", and, for automatically generated content, suggests explaining how automation was used.

A plain way to do it

As general advice:

A website chatbot or an AI phone receptionist: say at the start that it is automated and how to reach a person; see the related answers on website chatbots and on answering services and AI receptionists.
If anyone asks whether they are talking to a person, answer truthfully, everywhere.
Emails drafted with AI help and sent in your own name: check every fact first.
AI-made images: label any that could pass for a real photo; see the related answer on AI-generated images.
Reviews and testimonials: never AI-made; see the related answer on using AI to write reviews.
A short public statement on your website saying where you use AI, as the SBA suggests.

Sources

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