SKIP TO MAIN CONTENT

Google's AI Wants to Answer Your Customers' Texts. Fix Your Profile First.

By Skeptical · October 30, 20266 min read

Google is letting more businesses into a pilot where an AI agent answers customer messages sent from your Google Business Profile. The pitch is simple: customers text you from Search or Maps, and Google's AI handles the routine questions for free.

Question everything, know nothing. So here is what has actually been reported, what Google has and hasn't confirmed, and the one thing every local business should do before flipping the switch.

What Google Is Testing

On October 29, 2026, Search Engine Roundtable reported that Google appears to be rolling out its AI-powered messaging feature to more Business Profiles. In Google's own wording, quoted in that report, the feature lets you "connect with customers from Search and Maps and let them message your business on their phone's native messaging app." It uses an AI agent that "will answer routine questions from customers, instantly and at no cost."

Here is how it works, based on that report and the screenshots shared with it:

  • Customers message the business from Search and Maps using their phone's regular texting app, not a separate Google chat window.
  • The AI agent answers routine questions. In Google's restaurant example, it shows menu items with photos and prices and offers open reservation times.
  • When the agent can't answer, it hands the conversation to the business.
  • You can take over any conversation at any time.
  • The messages are available in your Business Profile.

How to Tell If You Have It

Claudia Tomina, who spotted the rollout and shared it on LinkedIn, said to look for a red dot on Messages in your profile. Eligible businesses see a welcome screen that explains the feature and lets them turn it on.

Mike Blumenthal shared a Google email on X inviting a business to "get early access to the AI-powered messaging pilot on your Business Profile on Search and Maps at no cost." That email was written for restaurants and mentions help with reservations. Nothing public so far says which other business categories are included.

Google has not said when, or if, the feature will be available to everyone. As GBP Promote noted, it still looks like a limited rollout, so not seeing the red dot is normal.

The Fine Print: RCS

According to Tomina, the AI agent only works for customers whose phones and networks support RCS (Rich Communication Services), the newer texting standard that replaces plain SMS on supported phones. Customers without RCS skip the agent, their texts go straight to your phone, and standard text rates may apply.

Google's own Google Messages help page on RCS chats with businesses says RCS availability varies by phone and carrier. In practice, that means some of your customers will get the AI and some will get you. Plan for both.

This Isn't Google's First Try at Messaging

If this sounds familiar, it should. Google shut down the original Business Profile chat feature on July 31, 2024, according to its Business Profile help page on chat and call history. Google Business Messages, the developer version, ended the same day.

Since then, Google's help page on chatting with customers has let verified profiles add a WhatsApp link or a text message number under Contact, in select regions. If you add both, Google only shows the text message option.

Search Engine Roundtable also spotted a Messages button with a section labeled "Handled by your AI agent" in the Business Profile dashboard back on June 26, 2026. It disappeared within hours. The October rollout is the first sign of Google letting more businesses in.

So treat this as a pilot, not a permanent fixture. Google has pulled messaging before.

The Agent Can Only Repeat What Your Profile Says

This is the part that matters. Tomina's advice was blunt: make sure your menu, hours, and services are up to date before you turn it on, because "the agent can only answer as well as your profile does."

We agree, and we'd go further. An AI agent answering from a stale profile doesn't just give a bad answer. It gives a confident bad answer, in your name, in a text thread the customer will screenshot.

Before you turn it on, check these on your profile:

  1. Hours, including holiday and special hours. "Are you open Saturday?" is exactly the kind of routine question the agent is built for.
  2. Services and service area. If you stopped offering something, or you no longer drive to a suburb, remove it. Otherwise the agent may say yes on your behalf.
  3. Menu, products, or price details you've added. If the agent can show prices, the prices on your profile had better be current.
  4. Business description and attributes. Keep them factual and permanent. This is what the agent has to work with.
  5. Booking or reservation links. Make sure they still go somewhere that works.

Decide Who Owns the Handoff

The agent hands off questions it can't answer. That handoff is a lead, and it's the most valuable message in the thread, because it's the one with a real question.

  • Pick one person who watches profile messages during business hours.
  • Remember that customers without RCS text your phone directly. Someone has to answer those too.
  • Read the agent's early conversations. If it gets something wrong, the fix is almost always on the profile, not in the chat.
  • Watch chat activity in your Business Profile performance metrics so you know whether messaging is producing real conversations or just noise.

If you haven't touched your profile in months, that cleanup is the core of our Local SEO and Google Business Profile work. And if you'd rather get a straight read on what's wrong first, start with one of Skeptical's audits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google Business Profile AI-powered messaging?

It is a pilot feature that lets customers message a business from Google Search and Maps in their phone's own texting app, with an AI agent answering routine questions. Google describes it as answering routine questions instantly and at no cost, handing off what it can't answer, and letting the business take over at any time.

Does every business have access?

No. Reports from October 29, 2026 say Google is expanding access to more businesses, and some are getting early access invitations, but Google has not said when it will be widely available. Look for a red dot on Messages in your Business Profile.

Does the AI agent work for every customer?

No. According to reports on the rollout, the agent only works for customers whose phones and networks support RCS. Other customers' texts go straight to the business phone, and standard text rates may apply.

Does it cost anything?

Google's wording says the agent answers routine questions at no cost, and the early access email describes the pilot as no cost. Customers without RCS who text your phone may pay standard text rates.

What should I do before turning it on?

Update your hours, special hours, services, service area, menu or product details, and booking links. The agent answers from your profile information, so outdated details can turn into wrong answers sent in your name.

The Takeaway

Google wants an AI to answer your customers' texts. It can only repeat what's on your profile. Fix the profile, assign someone to the handoff, and then decide whether to turn it on. Everything else is noise.

Want an honest look at your profile first? Email [email protected] or check out Skeptical's audits.

Sources

BACK TO THE BLOG

LET'S TALK

NO PRESSURE

No salesy pitches. Just a real and honest conversation about your business, your challenges, and whether we can actually help. If we can, awesome, let's get to work. If not, we'll be upfront about it and point you in the right direction.

[email protected]