GEO courseModule 9 of 10: After the MentionLesson 9.3
Website Chat, AI Receptionists and Calls
A chat box on your site, or an AI that answers or screens your phone calls. Run well, they catch enquiries out of hours. Run badly, they state a wrong fee or rent on your behalf, and that statement is yours.
Why it matters
A chatbot trained on your whole site, old PDFs included, will quote fees you no longer charge, and you answer for it.
The evidence
Evidence: Official guidance
The ICO's own chatbot record as a model, and consumer law on statements made on your behalf. Applying them to agency chatbots is our reasoning: take advice.
Do this first
Ask your chat tool five questions you know the answers to, including "how much is my house worth?", and record every wrong or invented answer.
01What it is
A robot at the shop door that answers “what time do you open?” Great if it knows the answers. A problem if it makes things up, so there must always be a way to fetch a real person.
Think of it like
A new receptionist on their first day. You'd give them a script, tell them what they must never promise, and sit nearby for the first week.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
Buyers and tenants want quick, correct answers about availability, viewings and fees; a wrong one wastes a trip. Sellers and landlords may type in personal details, and need to know who sees them and that a person will follow up.
buyers
Want quick, correct answers about viewings and availability.
tenants
Ask about fees and pets, and act on the answer.
sellers
May type in details about their home and expect a person to follow up.
landlords
Want to know who sees their details and when they'll hear back.
To Google, Bing and AI
Evidence: Official guidanceChat widgets are usually loaded by script, so AI crawlers reading your page code won't see what the bot says (lesson 3.3): never rely on a chatbot to carry facts that aren't on your pages. A bot that quotes a different fee from your fees page creates exactly the mismatch customers and AI both notice. On responsibility: under the DMCC Act a trader answers for statements made on its behalf, and a Canadian tribunal held Air Canada liable for its chatbot's wrong answer in 2024. The ICO's own chatbot record shows good practice: it says it's AI, needs no personal data, hands over to a human, and has its content reviewed quarterly. For phone AI, the ICO's rules on automated marketing calls (PECR) apply.
An agent example
A lettings agency installs an AI chat widget trained on its whole website, including an old PDF with outdated fees. A visitor asks about an admin fee and gets a figure the agency no longer charges. The agency removes the PDF, restricts the bot to its fact sheet and current fees page, blocks valuation questions (the bot now offers to book one instead), adds a clear "AI assistant" label and a "talk to a person" button, and reads the transcripts weekly.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1Ask five questions about fees, availability and areas you know the answers to.
- 2Ask one it should refuse: "How much is my house worth?"
- 3Record every wrong or invented answer.
- 1Can you reach a person in one click? Does anyone see it promptly?
- 2Does the widget say it's AI?
- 1Read ten recent transcripts or call logs.
- 2Look for wrong answers and unhappy visitors.
Here is our fees page and a chat transcript from our website assistant. List any statement in the transcript that doesn't match the fees page.
- 1Limit the tool to your fact sheet and current fees page. Remove old PDFs from its sources.
- 2Block valuations and legal advice, or answer them only with a link to the right page or an offer to book.
- 3Use AI to draft an approved question-and-answer list from your fact sheet, then check each answer.
- 1A clear "AI assistant" label.
- 2A one-click "talk to a person" button, watched by someone.
- 3For phone AI: say at the start that the caller is speaking to an automated system, and never pose as a named human.
- 1Ask the supplier in writing where data is stored, who sees it, how long it's kept, and how you delete transcripts.
- 2Update your privacy notice to cover the tool.
- 3Don't ask for sensitive data in chat.
- 1Run your five hard questions every week, and read the transcripts.
- 2Ask your web provider whether the widget slows the page or hides content.
Then: Take advice from a data protection adviser or solicitor before using AI for calls or recording them. This is general information, not legal advice.
04Keep it up
Weekly transcript read and test while it’s new; monthly once it’s settled.
That's lesson 9.3
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