The first sentences of a call decide whether someone stays on the line or hangs up. An automated greeting also has mandatory elements: the notice that an AI is speaking and, if the call is recorded, the notice about the recording. This article shows what belongs in the greeting, in which order and how a business checks that it works. It describes the legal situation in the EU and, for call recording, in Germany. As of: 20 October 2026.
What is an automated phone greeting?
It means the first sentences a caller hears when a system rather than a person answers the call. Two forms are common: a fixed announcement with a keypad menu (“For appointments, press 1”) or an AI phone assistant that introduces itself and then asks in free words what the caller needs. In the second form the greeting is the start of a conversation: the caller answers, and the assistant works with that answer.
What must an automated greeting contain?
Three elements follow from the law or from the situation:
- Who is answering: the name of the business, so the caller knows they have reached the right place.
- That an AI is speaking: under Article 50(1) of the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), a person must be informed that they are interacting with an AI system, unless this is obvious. The information must be given in a clear and distinguishable manner at the latest at the time of the first interaction (Article 50(5)). This obligation applies since 2 August 2026 (Article 113).
- Whether the call is recorded: in Germany, anyone who records another person's privately spoken words on a sound carrier without authorisation commits an offence under Section 201 of the Criminal Code (StGB). If calls are recorded, a notice belongs at the start, together with the option to object to the recording.
The information duties of the General Data Protection Regulation also apply: under Article 13, anyone collecting personal data from the data subject must provide, at the time of collection, the identity of the controller, the purpose and the storage period, among other things. Reading all of this out would overload any greeting. How the business provides this information, for example with a short reference to its privacy notice, should be decided with its data protection adviser.
In what order, and how long should the greeting be?
As short as possible, with the question about the caller's request coming early. A sensible order is: name of the business, AI disclosure, recording notice if needed, then the open question. An example for a fictitious business:
“Good morning, Jahresring Joinery. You are speaking with our AI assistant. How can I help you?”
Anything the caller does not need at this moment does not belong in the greeting: advertising lines, the history of the business, opening hours nobody asked for. Callers who want the opening hours ask for them, and the assistant then gives them.
Keypad menu or free speech: what is the difference?
A keypad menu forces callers to fit their request into a given number. If it fits none, they end up in the wrong branch or hang up. An AI phone assistant lets callers describe their request in their own words and asks follow-up questions when something is missing. For this it has to understand reliably; unclear pronunciation, dialect and background noise are the cases a business should test itself before going live. In both cases, callers who want to speak to a person must be able to say so and get a clear answer on whether and when that is possible.
What belongs in the greeting after hours and in emergencies?
After hours, callers should learn early what is possible now: booking an appointment, requesting a call-back or leaving a message. If the business runs an emergency service, for example in plumbing or heating, the route to it belongs at the start. In medical and therapy practices in Germany, the greeting needs a reference to the emergency number 112 and the on-call medical service at 116117; details are in the article Automated patient communication by phone.
How does a business check that the greeting works?
- Call in yourself, several times and from different phones, including from a noisy environment.
- Ask people who do not know the greeting yet to call in, and ask them what they understood.
- After launch, read the call summaries of the first weeks: where do callers hang up, where do they ask again, where does a request end up in the wrong process?
- Then change one thing at a time and observe again, instead of adjusting several things at once.
How does the voiceOne AI phone assistant greet callers?
The voiceOne AI phone assistant, including in the practice edition mediOne, identifies itself as an AI at the start of every call. It then asks what the caller needs, gives information, books appointments in Google, Outlook, CalDAV or eTermin calendars and transfers calls. After every call there is a summary, and the contact is stored in the CRM.
You can hear how the greeting sounds: on +49 951 16092950 the voiceOne assistant answers, in German or English.
Summary
An automated greeting names the business, states that an AI is speaking (mandatory since 2 August 2026) and mentions recording if calls are recorded. The question about the caller's request follows as early as possible. Whether the greeting works is shown by your own test calls and by reviewing the first weeks, not by a template text.
Sources
All sources retrieved on 20 October 2026.
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 50 and Article 113; official text: eur-lex.europa.eu
- Section 201 German Criminal Code (StGB), violation of the privacy of the spoken word, German original: gesetze-im-internet.de; English translation: gesetze-im-internet.de
- General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 13, eur-lex.europa.eu
- National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), on-call medical service, 116117.de
AI textThis article was created with the support of AI. voiceOne editorial team · published on 20 July 2025 · updated on 20 October 2026.