AI agents calling and texting carriers: the rules in plain language

Brokerages call and text carriers all day, and more of those calls are now made by software that talks. The rules that apply were mostly written for robocalls and marketing, but they don't stop at the consumer's door: a lot of them protect the phone number, not the person, and most owner-operators run their business from a cell phone. Here is what applies, what changed recently, and where the law is unsettled.

1. The TCPA in two sentences

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the FCC's rules (47 U.S.C. 227 and 47 CFR 64.1200), a call to a cell phone made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice needs the called party's prior express consent, unless it is an emergency. If the call is telemarketing or includes an advertisement, the bar goes up to prior express written consent.

Three points matter for brokers:

• There is no business-to-business exception for calls to cell phones. The rule is about the type of number, not whether the person is a consumer.
• Texts count. The FCC's rules treat text messages as calls for these purposes, including consent and revocation.
• The stakes are per call. Anyone who receives a violating call can sue for $500 per violation, and a court can triple that if the violation was willful or knowing.

2. An AI voice is an "artificial" voice

On February 8, 2024, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling (FCC 24-17) confirming that the TCPA's limits on "artificial or prerecorded voice" calls cover today's AI technologies that generate human-sounding voices, including voice cloning. In practice: a call where software speaks to a carrier's cell phone needs that carrier's prior express consent, the same as a classic robocall. It does not matter that the conversation is live and two-way.

FCC rules also require every artificial or prerecorded voice message to state clearly, at the beginning, the name of the business responsible for the call, and to give a phone number during or after the message (47 CFR 64.1200(b)). For a broker, that means the brokerage's registered name and a callback number.

In August 2024 the FCC also proposed rules that would define AI-generated calls and require callers to disclose them. We found no final rule as of October 2026, so treat it as pending.

Is offering a load "telemarketing"?

Telemarketing means a call made to encourage the purchase of goods or services. When you call a carrier to offer a load, you are the one buying a service. There is a reasonable argument that a load offer is not telemarketing, which would mean prior express consent (not written consent) is enough. We have not found a court decision on freight load offers. And since the Supreme Court's June 2025 decision in McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKesson, district courts are not bound to follow the FCC's interpretations of the TCPA, so outcomes can vary by court. The safe course is to get consent that would satisfy either standard.

3. What counts as consent

The FCC said in 1992 that a person who knowingly gives out their phone number has, in effect, given permission to be called at that number, absent instructions to the contrary. Later FCC rulings tie that consent to the purpose for which the number was given. Applied to freight:

• Stronger: a carrier that gave you its cell number in your onboarding packet, to receive load offers and updates about its loads.
• Weaker: a number scraped from a load board post, a website or the FMCSA record. Posting a number publicly is not the same as giving it to you.
• Best: a clear line in the carrier packet saying the brokerage, and software working on its behalf, may call and text the carrier about loads, including with an automated or AI-generated voice, and explaining how to opt out. Keep the signed packet, the date and the number it covers.

Calls the carrier makes to you are a different situation: the outbound consent rules don't apply in the same way, but recording and disclosure rules still do.

4. Revoking consent: the 2025 rule

Since April 11, 2025, FCC rules say a person can revoke consent by any reasonable method, and you cannot require one exclusive way to opt out. Replies of "stop", "quit", "end", "revoke", "opt out", "cancel" or "unsubscribe" to a text are revocation by definition, and other words count too if a reasonable person would read them as a request to stop. Revocations must be honored within a reasonable time, no more than ten business days. You may send one confirmation text, which is presumed fine if sent within five minutes and says nothing else.

A further piece of the rule, under which an opt-out would apply to all of a caller's automated calls and texts, across channels, has been postponed twice. It is now set for January 31, 2027, and the FCC has asked whether to change it.

For a brokerage: treat "stop calling me", "take me off your list" or the same thing in Spanish, Punjabi or any other language as a revocation for that number, on every channel, from the moment it is received. Ten business days is the outer limit, not a target.

5. Business texting: 10DLC registration

Texts sent by a business from an ordinary 10-digit number go over what the phone companies call A2P 10DLC. To send them, your messaging provider registers your brand (the legal business) and each campaign (what you send and why) with The Campaign Registry. Unregistered traffic gets blocked: Twilio, for example, has blocked unregistered US-bound messages from its 10DLC numbers since September 1, 2023. The campaign description, the sample messages and the opt-in method you register should match what you actually send.

The wireless industry's Messaging Principles and Best Practices (CTIA, May 2023 edition) set the expectations the carriers enforce: get consent, honor opt-outs, use standard "STOP" wording, honor normal-language opt-outs too, send one final confirmation, and keep records of opt-ins and opt-outs.

WhatsApp has its own rules. Its business messaging policy says you may only message people who gave you their number and opted in to receive messages from you, and that you must respect requests to stop made on or off WhatsApp.

6. Recording calls: one-party and all-party states

Federal law allows recording when one party to the call consents (18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d)), and most states follow that. A minority require every party's consent. The states most commonly listed as all-party are:

Lists differ, statutes and court decisions change, and a call between two states raises the question of whose law applies. The practical answer is to tell everyone at the start of every call that the call is recorded. A clear notice is simpler than tracking where each driver happens to be.

7. State laws on disclosing AI

We found no federal rule in force that requires a business to say it is using AI on a call, beyond identifying the business. Several states have rules, mostly written for consumers:

• California, SB 1001 (since July 1, 2019). Makes it unlawful to use an automated online account to mislead a person in California about its artificial identity in order to encourage a sale or influence a vote. A clear disclosure is a defense. It is limited to online communications, so it does not clearly reach phone calls.
• California, AB 2905 (Chapter 316, Statutes of 2024). Requires the live announcement before an autodialed prerecorded message to say whether the message uses an artificial voice. It is written for prerecorded autodialer messages; how it applies to a live conversational voice is not settled.
• Utah, Artificial Intelligence Policy Act, as amended by SB 226 (effective May 7, 2025). A business must disclose that a person is talking to generative AI when the person clearly asks. Disclosing at the start and throughout creates a safe harbor. The law is set to sunset in July 2027.
• Maine, Public Law 2025, chapter 294 (LD 1727, approved June 12, 2025). A business may not use an "artificial intelligence chatbot" (the statute's term) or other computer technology in trade with a consumer in a way that may lead a reasonable consumer to believe they are talking to a human, unless it clearly says so. Violations fall under Maine's Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Whether an owner-operator counts as a "consumer" under these laws is debatable. You don't need to settle it: if whoever calls says it is an AI at the start of every call and text conversation, and answers truthfully whenever asked, you have done the main thing these laws ask for.

8. A practical setup for a brokerage

1. Contact carriers you have a relationship with. Add a consent clause to the carrier packet that covers automated and AI-voice calls and texts about loads. Be careful with numbers that came only from public listings.
2. Identify at the start. The brokerage's legal name, that the caller is an AI, and a callback number.
3. Announce recording on every call.
4. Hand over to a person whenever someone asks for one.
5. Honor STOP everywhere. One opt-out list per number, shared by calls, texts and WhatsApp, applied immediately. Send at most one confirmation.
6. Register your texting. Brand and campaign through your messaging provider, with messages that match the registration. Get opt-in before messaging on WhatsApp.
7. Respect calling hours. The FCC bars telephone solicitations to residential subscribers before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time. Even if a load offer isn't a solicitation, it is a good rule for drivers who sleep in the truck.
8. Keep records. Where each number and consent came from, recordings or transcripts, opt-outs and when they were honored. Ask counsel how long to keep them.
9. Check your vendor contracts for who handles registration, opt-outs and records, and review the setup with counsel at least once a year. This area has changed every year since 2024.

How Retexa handles this

The agent introduces itself as an AI working for your brokerage, by your brokerage's name, and hands the conversation to your rep when someone asks for a person. It works only with carriers you give it or approve, texts through registered business messaging, and saves every call and text on the load with a recording or transcript. See how you stay in control.

This article is general information, not legal advice.