Google's AI Is Calling Your Business: What It Asks, and Whether to Opt Out

I went through Google's announcement, its two Business Profile help pages on automated calls, its Gemini help page for Call for Me and its Local Services Ads ranking page on October 27, 2026. What follows is what those pages say, and how I'd prepare a restaurant, a dental practice or a trades business for the next AI call.

What is happening when Google's AI calls a business?

Two different Google products can now call you, and they work differently.

The first is Search. In July 2025, Google announced that Search can call local businesses to ask about pricing and availability so the customer doesn't have to. After a local search such as "pet groomers near me", the customer sees an option labelled "Have AI check pricing", enters details such as the service and the time they want, and Search calls several businesses and reports back with the options. It rolled out to all Search users in the US, with higher usage limits for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers (Google, July 2025).

Google's Business Profile help page describes what those calls do. When a customer makes a request through Search or Maps, Google may phone the business to book an appointment (it collects the preferred time, service type and party size first), to check a restaurant's current wait time, or to confirm prices and availability of services and in-store products. If you give a price, the customer gets an email or text with the quote. If your in-store products are already listed in Merchant Center, Google uses that data and doesn't call about inventory (Google Business Profile Help).

The second is Gemini. On September 24, 2026, Google began testing Call for Me, a feature in the Gemini mobile app that calls businesses for the user: checking hours and availability, asking for service quotes, booking, confirming or moving appointments and reservations, and waiting on hold (TechCrunch, September 2026). The requirements are narrow for now: the user must be 18 or older, in the US, on a Pixel 11 with a US SIM card, with a paid Google AI subscription, the public beta of the Phone by Google app, and the device language set to English. Gemini can only call US numbers (Google Gemini Apps Help).

So the Search calls are the ones a US business is most likely to get today. The Gemini calls are a test, but they show where this is going: every assistant with a phone line will eventually be able to call you.

How do you know the call is really from Google?

For the Gemini calls, Google's help page is specific: each call opens with Gemini identifying itself as an AI assistant from Google, saying it's calling on a recorded line for a named customer. The call comes from the customer's own phone number, and the customer can follow a live transcript, listen in, and take over at any point, at which point Gemini announces the handoff and leaves the call.

For the Search calls, Google's help pages say the calls are automated and recorded for quality assurance, and that you'll hear the call is from Google and why it's calling. One of Google's sample greetings reads: "This is an automated service from Google, and this call is recorded to help improve Google services" (Google Business Profile Help). The same pages are useful for the other direction: Google never asks for payment, card details or account passwords. A caller who asks for money isn't Google (Google Business Profile Help).

That's the rule I'd give anyone who answers your phone. An AI call from Google wants information: a price, a time, whether you have the product. It never wants a payment. If a caller claiming to be Google or "an AI assistant" asks for a card number, a deposit, a login or a code, hang up. Fifteen years in corporate security taught me that the dangerous call is rarely the one that announces itself.

What does the AI ask for?

Three things, and they're predictable. According to Google's help page, the Search calls are limited to booking an appointment, checking a wait time, confirming prices or availability, verifying business hours, or checking in-demand inventory. Gemini's list is similar: hours, product availability, service quotes, and bookings or reservations.

Gemini can't relay sensitive personal or financial information on the customer's side either. Google's help page says it won't share things like Social Security numbers, passwords or health information, can't complete financial transactions, and can't make emergency or telemarketing calls. Daily limits apply to how many calls a user can make.

Two more details from the Business Profile page matter for a small business. Google caps repeat calls for the same information and avoids late-night and early-morning calls. And if you say a price on the phone, that price goes to the customer in writing, so whoever answers needs the current price list.

Does answering affect your visibility on Google?

Google hasn't said that answering or ignoring these automated calls changes where you rank in Search or Maps, and I won't claim it does.

What Google does say is narrower and worth knowing. For Local Services Ads, the paid listings at the top of many local searches, ranking depends on your bid and on the likelihood of a lead, which includes responsiveness, and Google's help page states that missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness. Profile quality, including your average response time, also counts (Google Local Services Ads Help). So Google already measures whether you pick up, at least for advertisers.

My read: treat the AI call like any other customer call, because that's what it is. The person behind it typed a service and a time into Google and asked it to find someone. An unanswered call is a quote you didn't give, whether the caller was a person or a machine. And with AI Mode past 1 billion monthly users (Google, July 2026), more of your customers start their search in a place that can make the call for them. If the difference between ranking on Google and being chosen by an AI is new to you, my guide to SEO vs GEO explains it.

Should you opt out?

Only if you can't make the calls work for you. Four cases where opting out makes sense:

• You don't take bookings or quotes by phone at all, and every call goes to voicemail.
• Your products are already in Merchant Center, so Google has the inventory data and the calls add nothing.
• The people answering your phone can't be trusted to give accurate prices, and a wrong quote in writing costs you more than the lead is worth.
• You run a business where every incoming call is a confidentiality question, which is rare but real.

In every other case, the free lead is worth the 90-second call. Opting out also doesn't stop everything: Google says you may still receive occasional manual calls to confirm your profile information.

How to opt out, step by step

If you've decided to opt out, it takes about five minutes:

1. Verify your business if you haven't. The settings below only work on a verified profile.
2. Open your Business Profile, select More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings.
3. Under "Google automated calls and text messages", switch off "Bookings and inquiries from customers". The other two switches, "Keep your profile up to date" and "Post to your profile on your behalf", control Google's own calls and texts to check your hours and post updates. Switch them off too if you don't want any automated contact.
4. During a call, you can also say something like "Please stop calling my business", and Google says it will remove you.
5. For Gemini's Call for Me, opt out at g.co/gemini/opt-out. The same page lets you opt back in.
6. For texts, reply STOP in English (Google lists equivalents in other languages). To stop phone-tree mapping calls, Google gives a voicemail number on its help page.

Everything above comes from Google's help page on automated calls (Google Business Profile Help) and the Gemini calling page.

How to prepare for AI calls: a 30-minute checklist

If you stay in, half an hour of preparation turns these calls into bookings. Google's help page itself notes that sharing details about your offerings can bring in customers.

1. Write the five answers (10 minutes). Your current prices for the services people ask about most, your next available slots, your hours, your wait time at busy periods, and what you don't do. Put the sheet next to the phone.
2. Put the same facts on your profile and website (10 minutes). The Search feature only calls to find what it can't already see. Correct hours, listed services and clear prices mean fewer calls and better AI answers everywhere else. My guide to whether your business is invisible to ChatGPT and Claude covers the same fix for other assistants.
3. Brief whoever answers (5 minutes). The call will say it's from Google and that it's recorded. Answer it like a customer, give the price, never give payment details or logins, and write down what was asked.
4. Check your answer rate (5 minutes). Count last week's missed calls. If most calls go to voicemail, an AI caller gets voicemail too. The fix is a person, a forwarding rule or an AI receptionist, and I'll cover the receptionist options in a separate post.
5. Keep a one-line log for a month: date, what the AI asked, what you answered. After 30 days you'll know which services people are asking Google about, and whether the calls turn into customers.

If you run a restaurant or a dental practice, the industry pages for AI for restaurants and AI for dental practices collect the free checks and the prompt packs built for your type of business, including the AI Visibility Prompts packs for getting found by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI.

Where this is heading

Google isn't the only company putting an assistant on the phone, and the phone is only one channel. Google's own Business Profile connection in the Gemini app now lets owners manage reviews, hours and posts through a chat window, which I covered in Gemini's new business hub, and its always-on agent, Tasks in Gemini, handles email and calendars for customers who pay for it (my guide to Tasks in Gemini). The customer side of the phone is being automated first because it's the easiest side to automate.

My bet: within a year, a noticeable share of the calls a local business gets will come from software acting for a person, and the businesses that answer them clearly will take the bookings. The rules stay the same as for any caller. Be reachable, be accurate, and never give anyone money or logins over the phone.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google really calling my business with an AI?

Possibly. Since July 2025, Google Search in the US can phone local businesses on a customer's behalf to check prices, availability, bookings and wait times. Since September 2026, Google has also been testing Call for Me in the Gemini app on Pixel 11 phones. Google never asks for payment, card details or passwords on these calls.

How do I stop Google's AI from calling my business?

In your Business Profile, go to More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings, and switch off "Bookings and inquiries from customers" under "Google automated calls and text messages". You can also tell the caller to stop calling your business. For Gemini's Call for Me, opt out at g.co/gemini/opt-out.

Does Google's AI say it's an AI when it calls?

For Gemini's Call for Me, yes. Google's help page says each call opens with Gemini identifying itself as an AI assistant from Google calling on a recorded line, and it states the customer's name. For the Search calls, Google's help pages say the caller tells you it's an automated service from Google and why it's calling, and that the call is recorded.

What does Google's AI ask when it calls a business?

Prices and availability of services or products, whether an appointment time works for a given service and party size, a restaurant's current wait time, and whether your business hours are correct. If you give a price, the customer receives it by email or text.

Does ignoring Google's AI calls hurt my Google ranking?

Google hasn't said that it does for Search or Maps. For Local Services Ads, Google's help page says missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness, which is one of the ranking factors. Either way, an unanswered call is a quote you didn't give.

Is Google's AI calling businesses outside the US?

Not as far as Google's help pages show. They name only the US for the Search calls, which aren't available in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana or Nebraska. Gemini's Call for Me requires a US SIM card and can only call US numbers.

Can Google's AI make a booking or pay a deposit?

It can book an appointment or reservation if you confirm a time on the call, and the Search feature may book through an online booking partner where one is set up. It can't pay anything. Google says Gemini can't complete financial transactions or share financial information, and Google's automated calls never ask for payment.

Where to go from here

Check the automated-calls setting in your Business Profile today, then spend the half hour on the five answers and the briefing for whoever picks up. If you'd rather see where your business stands with AI assistants first, the free AI Visibility Readiness Quiz takes 5 to 7 minutes.

If you'd like one short, practical note on AI and risk a week, The Risk Memo goes out every Tuesday.

Researched with AI tools, written and fact-checked by Dominic.

Sources

1. Google, More advanced AI capabilities are coming to Search (Jul 16, 2025)
2. Google Business Profile Help, About automated calls and texts from Google to your business (accessed Oct 27, 2026)
3. Google Business Profile Help, Help protect against fraudulent calls and texts (accessed Oct 27, 2026)
4. Google Gemini Apps Help, Ask Gemini to handle your everyday phone calls (accessed Oct 27, 2026)
5. TechCrunch, Google tests letting Gemini call businesses for you (Sep 24, 2026)
6. Google Local Services Ads Help, About ad rankings (accessed Oct 27, 2026)
7. Google, Q2 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEO (Jul 22, 2026)