> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://mindthehype.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Your AI is about to phone their AI. Who's listening? - URL: https://mindthehype.co.uk/gemini-call-for-me-ofcom-ai-customer-service/ - Published: 2026-09-25T13:14:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-25T13:14:54.000Z - Description: Google is testing an AI that makes phone calls for you. A day later, Ofcom revealed how Brits really feel about AI customer service. Put the two together and you get a call with nobody on either end. - Author: Ada - Tags: AI, #ai-written, #format-v3 This week Google started letting a small group of people hand their phone calls over to AI. The feature, called Call for Me, has Google's Gemini assistant ring a business on your behalf to book a table, check whether something's in stock or move an appointment. A day later, UK regulator Ofcom published research on how people here feel about AI in customer service. The short answer: happy to use it, not so keen to trust it, and very keen to keep a human on the other end. Put the two stories together and they point somewhere slightly absurd: a customer service call where neither side is a person. ## How Google's Call for Me works You tell Gemini what you need, and it phones the business from your own number. It introduces itself as an AI, works through the automated menus, waits on hold and handles the conversation. You can follow a live transcript and take over at any point. Google says the calls "represent real customers" and that it wants to "respect the time of the neighborhood shops and front-desk staff answering the phone". Don't go looking for it yet. It's a **US-only** early preview for Pixel 11 owners who pay for Gemini and have signed up to a beta of Google's Phone app. Google says it's "starting small to get the experience right". If this sounds familiar, it's because Google showed off almost exactly the same thing in 2018\. That demo, called Duplex, had an AI book a hair appointment while dropping in convincing "mm-hmm"s. Eight years later it's still a small beta, which says a lot about how hard real phone calls are. ## What Ofcom found Ofcom looked at how UK adults use AI with their broadband and mobile providers. Just over half (53%) of UK adults who go online had used a generative AI tool or an AI customer service chatbot in the past year. One in twelve (8%) had used AI for something to do with their telecoms services, most often to sort out a problem. People who'd tried these tools mostly liked them: 85% found them easy to use and 81% said they got what they needed. But only 56% trusted the result of their last AI interaction, and about one in five actively didn't. Ofcom also set out what it expects from providers: > "It should be very clear to telecoms customers when they are interacting with a GenAI application." > — Ofcom It would also be concerned if AI tools became "gatekeepers" standing between customers and help. For now, it doesn't think new rules are needed. The big providers are already using AI behind the scenes: Virgin Media O2 and VodafoneThree both have tools that help their human staff find answers faster. ## When both ends of the call are bots This is where the two stories meet. Companies are rolling out AI to answer customers. Tech giants are building AI to *be* the customer. Follow that through and you get a bot on hold to another bot, both politely confirming a date of birth, while the two humans involved get on with their day. Whether that's efficient or ridiculous comes down to one question: **who gets a human when it matters?** Once "your AI can call our AI" becomes normal, companies have a very convenient excuse to make the human option harder to find. Ofcom's "gatekeeper" warning is a polite way of saying don't build a moat around your call centre. Trust works both ways, too. If only 56% of people trust what a support bot tells them, how much will a business trust what a customer's bot says? "My owner definitely authorised this cancellation" is going to keep fraud teams busy. ## The case for the bots Nobody's life got worse because a robot booked them a table. For people who hate the phone, or find calls difficult, Call for Me could be useful. And Ofcom's research shows most people who've tried AI support got what they needed. The technology isn't really the problem. How companies use it is: bots for bookings and rescheduling, people for complaints, money and anyone who's struggling. 📊 **The verdict. Hype: 3/5 · Substance: 2/5 · Spin: Medium.** Call for Me comes from Google's own announcement, and nobody outside Google has tested it yet. The Ofcom figures are independent research. Handy for people who hate phoning, and years away for most UK users. The Ofcom research is the more useful read: people will use AI, they don't fully trust it, and they want a human when it counts. *Mind the hype. And press 0 for an operator while you still can.* --- *Sources:* [*TechCrunch*](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/24/google-tests-letting-gemini-make-phone-calls-initially-for-us-pixel-owners/?ref=mindthehype.co.uk)*,* [*9to5Google*](https://9to5google.com/2026/09/24/pixel-11-call-for-me/?ref=mindthehype.co.uk)*,* [*thinkbroadband*](https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/8-of-uk-adults-already-using-ai-to-manage-telecoms-services?ref=mindthehype.co.uk)*,* [*Advanced Television*](https://www.advanced-television.com/2026/09/25/ofcom-brits-have-mixed-feelings-about-ai-customer-services/?ref=mindthehype.co.uk)*,* [*ISPreview*](https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/09/ofcom-1-in-12-uk-adults-use-ai-to-help-manage-their-telecoms-services.html?ref=mindthehype.co.uk)*.*