Compliance
Is it legal to use AI to answer calls in New Zealand?
By Intact Media Last reviewed 8 min read
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This guide is general information for NZ business owners. It is not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about your specific situation.
Is there a law against AI receptionists in NZ?
No. New Zealand doesn’t have a law that specifically regulates AI receptionists or AI call answering. The government has taken a principles-based approach, and in July 2025 MBIE published voluntary Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses alongside a national AI strategy.
That doesn’t mean anything goes. Existing laws apply to AI the same way they apply to people and other technology. The main ones for call answering are privacy law, consumer law and, for some businesses, sector rules.
How does the Privacy Act 2020 apply?
The Privacy Commissioner’s position is that the Privacy Act applies to everyone using AI tools in New Zealand. An AI receptionist collects personal information, such as names, numbers, addresses and the reason for the call, so the information privacy principles apply. In practice that means:
- Only collect what you need. Name, number and the job details, not a life story.
- Tell people. Callers should know who is collecting their information, why, and how they can access or correct it. A short line in the greeting plus a link to your privacy statement in follow-up texts covers most of this.
- Keep it secure. Use accounts with proper access controls, and know who can see call transcripts.
- Think about offshore processing. Many AI and telephony platforms process data overseas. Information privacy principle 12 covers disclosing personal information outside New Zealand. Your privacy statement should explain it, and you should be comfortable with the provider’s protections.
- Don’t keep it forever. Decide how long recordings and transcripts are kept.
The Commissioner also recommends a privacy impact assessment before using AI tools, and human review before acting on AI outputs. For a small business this can be a simple written checklist.
Do I have to say the caller is talking to an AI?
We recommend it, every time. A greeting like “Kia ora, you’ve reached Kauri Electrical. I’m the AI assistant” sets expectations, builds trust and avoids any suggestion that you are misleading people.
The Fair Trading Act 1986 prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade. An AI that pretends to be a person, or makes claims about prices or availability that aren’t true, could create risk. Being upfront is the simple way to avoid it.
Can an AI receptionist record calls?
In New Zealand, a party to a private conversation can generally record it. Because your business is a party to the call, recording or transcribing it is usually lawful. The Privacy Act still applies to the recording itself, so:
- Tell callers calls may be recorded or transcribed
- Use recordings only for the reasons you’ve stated, such as quality and records
- Store them securely and delete them when no longer needed
What can the AI say, and what should it never say?
Keep the AI to facts you approve and tasks it can do reliably:
- Good: hours, location, services offered, booking, taking messages, approved fee wording, emergency instructions such as “call 111”
- Avoid: advice of any kind (legal, financial, medical, building), price quotes for custom work, promises about outcomes, handling complaints
Sector rules can add limits. Health providers have the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Real estate professionals have the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 and REA rules. Financial advisers have their own conduct obligations.
What about texting callers afterwards?
Follow-up texts about the caller’s own enquiry are usually fine. Marketing texts need consent and an unsubscribe under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. See our NZ business SMS rules guide.
A simple compliance checklist
- Greeting says it is an AI assistant and names your business
- Callers can ask for a person or leave a message
- Privacy statement updated to cover AI call handling, recording and any offshore processing
- Only necessary details collected
- Recording retention period decided
- Script avoids advice, guarantees and custom quotes
- Someone reviews call summaries regularly
- Marketing texts only sent with consent
Our AI receptionist setups include each of these by default.