Justice · Court of Public Opinion

Should a robot that looks or sounds human always have to say it's a robot?

Humanlike robots and AI voices now greet hotel guests, answer phone lines and keep older people company. Should they always announce that they are machines, or only when someone could be fooled? A general question, not about any real product.

Side A: Always say it

People have a right to know whether they are dealing with a person. A humanlike robot or voice should say so, every time.

Side B: Only when it matters

When the help is good and nothing is being sold or decided, constant announcements are noise. Disclose when someone could be misled.

Watch the hearing and vote

What the law says: Required in some places, when people could be fooled

• European Union: The AI Act requires AI systems that interact with people to be designed so that people are told they are dealing with an AI, unless that is obvious from the context. These transparency duties apply from August 2026.
• United States · California: California's bot disclosure law makes it unlawful to use a bot online to mislead a person about its artificial identity in order to sell something or influence a vote, unless the bot says it is a bot.

General information, labelled by place, checked October 2026. Not legal advice.

An AI-generated hearing for debate and learning. Simulation, not legal advice. Every AI-made voice, face and video is labelled.