When Your Plumber’s AI Says ‘I’m Human’… and Other Lessons in Responsible AI

"Are you a human?"

It was an odd way to start a phone conversation. But given that the local plumber I was calling had deployed an AI voice agent that announced itself by name, stated "I'm a member of the digital team", and then completely failed to help with my admittedly niche inquiry, it seemed fair.

There's a really core lesson for Responsible AI adoption here though.

The goal for AI systems should not be to make them indistinguishable from humans, but to make them useful. Upfront transparency about the AI plus a clear capability overview allows your customers to feel informed and make a choice about whether that tool meets their needs.

In the future we might have AI tools that can genuinely do a human job in an area like customer service, but not today. Until that time, how you build transparency and human handoff into your solution should be one of your most important priorities. Those customers who leave the call wondering what they were just speaking to or only work it out when they need help the AI can't provide aren't a win, they're an adoption problem.

First posted on Linkedin on 02/09/2026 -> View Linkedin Post Here