Your next inquiry may not come from a customer. It may come from Google, calling on the customer’s behalf.
At Google I/O on May 19, Search VP Elizabeth Reid announced that for categories like home repair, beauty and pet care, people can ask Google to call businesses for them, with the capability rolling out to everyone in the U.S. over the summer (Google). That rollout window has now passed. The feature is quietly deciding which local businesses make a customer’s shortlist, and most owners have no idea it is happening.
How Google’s AI calls a business
A homeowner searches for a plumber, a groomer or a salon. Under the local results, Google offers to have AI check pricing. The customer answers a few quick questions about the job and the timing, taps submit, and Google calls several nearby providers. According to Google’s own help page, the customer then receives an email with quotes from the businesses it reached (Google Search Help).
It is fast. When local search firm Sterling Sky tested the feature, the request went in at 1:30 PM and the comparison landed at 1:41 PM (Sterling Sky). Eleven minutes from question to shortlist, and the customer never picked up a phone.
Two details matter more than the rest. The AI calls businesses that already rank in the local map results, so a business buried in those listings never gets the call at all. And any business that does not answer, or hangs up, appears in the customer’s summary under a label for businesses Google could not reach.
A missed call used to be invisible. Now it is on the record.
For years, a missed call was a private loss. The caller moved on and the owner never knew they existed. That changes when the comparison is written down. Three competitors quote a price range and offer an appointment time. Your name sits in the list of businesses Google could not reach. You were in the running, and the customer watched you drop out.
Picking up the phone is not enough on its own. Sterling Sky points to a November 2025 study from call analytics firm Invoca finding that on calls answered by a person, 48 percent did not give Google’s AI any pricing information (Invoca). Staff were not ready for the question, or the business preferred to quote in person. Either way, that business adds nothing to the summary the customer actually reads.
Now picture the timing. If a homeowner files that request at 8:45 on a Sunday night, right after noticing the leak, whoever can answer with a range and a next opening wins the spot. The office that closed at five does not.
What decides who gets quoted
The businesses that come out ahead here are built as a system, with three parts working together.
First, visibility. The AI only calls businesses it can find, which means a strong Google Business Profile, steady reviews and consistent business details across the web. We cover why that profile matters so much in our breakdown of reviews and Google Business Profile work.
Second, response. Every call needs a fast, clear answer, including after hours, with a price range and a next step instead of a voicemail box. That is the core of speed to lead, and it now applies to software callers as much as human ones.
Third, follow-up. Once the customer reaches out, the lead has to land in a CRM, get an immediate reply and keep moving until it books. A quote that never gets a second touch is still a lost job.
These pieces depend on each other. Ranking without answering wastes the call. Answering without follow-up wastes the lead. None of it is a one-time setup either, because Google has expanded this feature’s categories and changed its labels more than once since it first appeared. You can see how we put the whole system together on our how it works page.
The bigger shift is simple to state. AI is becoming the first customer many local businesses talk to. It asks plain questions, it does not wait around, and it reports exactly what happened to the person who asked. Businesses that treat that call like spam will lose jobs they never knew existed.
Andy Rodriguez is the founder of Agentic Growth Engine, which helps service businesses across the United States get found, trusted and recommended by AI search. Learn more about Andy Rodriguez.
If Google’s AI called your business today, would you make the shortlist? Find out where you stand. Get a free AEO and SEO visibility audit and see whether you rank where the AI looks, how answer engines read your business, and where leads are slipping through.