From 25 November 2026, a business may name the only opt-out methods it has to honor for its robocalls and texts: an automated voice or key press opt-out on the call, reply words such as STOP, or a website or phone number it designates, as long as every call or text discloses them. Requests must still be honored within 10 business days. If your AI agent sells, that buys you little: the FCC’s order leaves the opt-out an artificial-voice sales call owes exactly as it was.
The order was published in the Federal Register on 26 October 2026, but until 25 November the rule in force still says callers “may not designate an exclusive means” to revoke consent. On 27 October, Google’s AI Overview for “tcpa opt out requirements” told me callers “may designate” exclusive opt-out methods, in the present tense. Act on that this month and an email that says “stop calling me” becomes a revocation you ignored.
From 25 November you can pick the opt-out you must honor. If your AI agent sells, the rules already picked the in-call one for you.
Key numbers
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Date callers may first name an exclusive opt-out method (FCC 26-67) | 25 November 2026 |
| Order published in the Federal Register (91 FR 67214) | 26 October 2026 |
| Delayed revoke-all date the order replaces | 31 January 2027 |
| Opt-out methods a caller can make exclusive (in-call voice or key press, reply words, a website or phone number) | 3 |
| Reply words a text sender must honor (a text may name just one) | 7 |
| Time to honor an opt-out (unchanged by the order) | 10 business days |
| AI sales call opt-out offer, after naming the business (47 CFR 64.1200(b)(3)) | Within 2 seconds |
| Confirmation text presumed within consent if sent within | 5 minutes |
| Honor window suggested in the joint letter (unless a longer period is shown reasonable) | 7 business days |
| Comments due on the further notice (replies 28 December 2026) | 25 November 2026 |
| Statutory damages per call without consent (up to three times if willful or knowing) | $500 |
| FCC ruling that AI voices are artificial voices (FCC 24-17) | 8 February 2024 |
Read on 27 October 2026 from FCC 26-67 and its further notice in the Federal Register (91 FR 67214 and 67239), 47 CFR 64.1200 on eCFR, 47 U.S.C. 227 on LII and the FCC’s page for FCC 24-17.
What changes on 25 November
The order, FCC 26-67, adopted on 30 September (we covered the draft in our preview of the vote), rewrites the opt-out paragraphs of 47 CFR 64.1200, (a)(10) to (a)(12). A caller may make any of three methods its exclusive way to revoke consent: an automated, interactive voice or key press-activated opt-out mechanism on a call; a reply text using one of seven words, “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe”; or a website or telephone number it designates.
The method must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously on the call or in the text, and the FCC refused to let callers choose when and how. A text can name a single word, such as “Reply STOP,” as long as the sender honors all seven. A caller that designates a method need not process requests made any other way. One that does not stays on today’s standard: any reasonable means.
Two more changes matter. An opt-out from an informational message, one with no advertising or telemarketing, can be limited to that category: stopping payment reminders need not stop appointment reminders, the FCC’s own example. An opt-out from a marketing call or text still revokes consent to all of your marketing calls and texts. And the rewritten (a)(12) still protects a text that merely confirms an opt-out, presumed fine if sent within five minutes, but drops the line that let it ask which messages the person meant.
Ten business days stays the limit, and the order replaces the revoke-all provision that had been pushed to 31 January 2027.
Why AI sales calls gain the least
Since 8 February 2024 the FCC has treated an AI-generated voice as an artificial voice under the TCPA (FCC 24-17). That puts your agent under paragraph (b), which the order did not touch. Every artificial-voice call must open with the business’s registered name. A call that sells must then offer an automated, interactive voice or key press opt-out within two seconds of that introduction. When someone uses it, the mechanism must record the number on your do-not-call list and end the call immediately, and a voicemail must leave a toll-free number that reaches the same mechanism.
The order says the change “does not alter the existing opt-out methods” for calls that advertise or telemarket. Paragraph (d)(3) stays as well: a business calling for telemarketing must record a residential subscriber’s request not to be called and honor it within 10 business days, and the paragraph names no channel. My reading: if your agent sells, a “stop calling me” that arrives by email or through your technician still goes on the do-not-call list, whatever method you designate. Each sales call made after consent is revoked can cost $500 under the statute, up to three times that if a court finds it willful or knowing.
From now on we only have to honor STOP.
Not before 25 November, and not for the in-call opt-out or the do-not-call requests that sales calls owe.
Callers may designate an exclusive method if they disclose it clearly and conspicuously on the call or in the text.
It does not alter the opt-out methods required for calls that advertise or telemarket.
Where it pays: reminders and texts
Reminders, job confirmations and payment notices with no offer in them are informational, and there the change is real. A home services company can make the in-call opt-out the exclusive method for its AI reminder calls, say so on every call, and file each opt-out under the category it answered. The same goes for the booking confirmations an AI answering service for HVAC sends. Texts work the same way with reply words, and a sender on a no-reply number must say so in every text and offer another way out.
The catch is the word informational. Add one offer to a reminder and the call includes an advertisement, which puts it under the sales rules above. Our guide to AI calls to past customers shows where that line sits.
The opt-out has to write somewhere
Naming the in-call opt-out as your exclusive method only helps if it works, and on sales calls paragraph (b)(3) says it must record the number by itself. When I read the Retell, Vapi, Bland and GoHighLevel documentation for our September piece on AI voice agent opt-outs, none described writing a spoken “stop calling me” to a suppression list without a field, flow or sync you build yourself.
Test it: say “stop calling me” on a call in your own words, then check that the next campaign skips the number, whichever of the AI voice agent platforms you run.
What the FCC may tighten next
A further notice published the same day asks whether 10 business days should shrink now that callers can automate opt-outs. It cites a joint letter from the American Bankers Association, the National Consumer Law Center and ACA International that suggested seven business days unless the caller shows a longer period is reasonable, and asks whether to end no-reply texting, require a one-step way to revoke consent to all robocalls, and how opt-outs should reach affiliates. Comments are due 25 November 2026 and replies 28 December 2026.
How I would set it up
I have delivered 500+ projects, and before 25 November I would settle four things in any AI calling stack:
Sort every AI flow: sales or informational
If a script can mention a price, a promotion or an upsell, treat the whole flow as a sales flow.
Script the sales opt-out to the second
Name the business first, offer the voice or keypad opt-out within two seconds, write the number to your do-not-call list and hang up. Keep a route for requests that arrive by email or through staff.
Designate, then disclose every time
For reminders and texts, choose your exclusive methods for 25 November and put the disclosure in every script and template. Store opt-outs by category, not as one flag.
Process opt-outs the same day
Ten business days is the ceiling and seven is on the table. An opt-out that writes the moment it is heard meets both.
It is the opt-out layer of the TCPA-compliant AI calling setup we build: the in-call opt-out wired to your do-not-call list, and a log of every request.
The bottom line
From 25 November you can pick the opt-out methods you must honor, a real simplification for reminders and texts. For AI sales calls the order kept the two-second opt-out and the do-not-call list, so the work is unchanged: make the opt-out write to a list, disclose it every time and honor requests fast. Calling outside the US? The rules work differently in Canada and South Africa. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.