Search for pet groomers near me in the United States and one of the options under the results reads “Have AI check pricing.” Google began rolling that out in July 2025: you submit a request, Search calls the groomers, and it comes back with appointment and service information gathered from several of them.

In August, AI Mode began booking restaurant reservations, with local service appointments named as next. In November a retail entry point arrived: add near me to a search for toys or electronics, answer a short list of questions about what you want, and the summary comes back by text, email or both. At I/O this May, Google said the calling would cover select categories like home repair, beauty or pet care, and that those capabilities would roll out to everyone in the U.S. over the summer.

The business at the other end has its own page in the documentation: About automated calls and texts from Google to your business, in the Business Profile help center.

When Google calls

Google will only call you for five reasons. Three come from a customer: someone wants to book an appointment, someone wants to check the restaurant wait time, someone wants to confirm the price and availability of your products or services. The other two are Google’s own — it needs to check your business hours, or it needs to check the status of in-demand inventory.

So the bookings go through whichever channel is already there. After a customer supplies details like preferred time, service type and party size, Google calls the business to book, though where the business already works with an online booking provider, Google may book through the partner instead of dialing. Price and availability run the same way, and if you give Google the answer on the phone, the customer receives an email or SMS with your product details or service quote.

There is one case where the call simply does not happen. If you have already shared your in-store product details through Google Merchant Center, the page says, Google will use that information and will not call your business to ask about inventory. So the dialing is a fallback, and what it covers is whatever no feed has answered already.

Google has also called businesses for a different reason, to map out their phone trees. To stop those you call +1-650-206-5555, leave a voicemail with your business name and phone number, and say you want out of future calls to map the phone tree for your business.

Google says the calls are monitored and recorded for quality assurance. Businesses and customers can use the feature at no charge.

Availability and frequency

Appointment bookings, restaurant wait times and product and service confirmations are available only in select regions and languages, and may not be available for all users. Google says it limits the number of calls for the same information and avoids calling during late night or early morning hours. In the United States the feature is available in all states except Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska.

Turning it off

One way is on the call itself. When Google phones you can say you don’t want any more calls, and the page supplies the wording: “Please remove my business from your list.” or “Please stop calling my business.”

The other is in the profile. Go to your Business Profile, then More Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings; under “Google automated calls and text messages” there are three switches:

  • Bookings and inquiries from customers
  • Keep your profile up to date
  • Post to your profile on your behalf

Getting there needs a verified business. If you haven’t verified, you must do so in order to opt out, so the switch you want is behind a step you may not have taken yet. The switches cover the automated calls only — you may still occasionally get manual calls from Google to confirm your business information.

After the call

Google might post an update to your Business Profile on your behalf, based on the information you provide through automated phone calls, texts or WhatsApp messages. That is limited to verified profiles and is the third switch above. When it happens you get an email notification, and you can review or remove the post. Any updates made to your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps as a result of these calls are reviewed and marked as “Pending,” and the review might take up to 5 business days.

Assembled from Google’s four announcement posts and the Business Profile help page, read on 20 August 2026. That help page carries no published or modified date, so the state list and the switch labels are only as current as the day I read them, and everything above describes what the documentation says rather than what one of these calls actually sounds like. If you run a business that has taken one, what did it sound like from your end? Tell me if I’ve got something wrong and I’ll update the post.