AI sales bots are getting harder to spot. The tone is polished, the replies are instant, and everything sounds convincingly human. But when people realise they may have been talking to AI instead of a person, the issue is rarely accuracy. It is trust. The real question is not whether AI can sell well, but whether buyers feel misled when transparency disappears.
You have probably had the experience. A friendly message pops up. The tone is warm, the responses are quick, and everything sounds… polished. Too polished.
So, you start to wonder. Is this a real person, or an AI sales bot?
People have started sharing little “hacks” to find out. Ask them to recite a recipe. Request something odd like holding three fingers in front of their face on a video call. Throw in a strange question that derails the conversation. The idea is simple. Disrupt the pattern and see what happens. If the flow breaks, maybe it was never human in the first place.
It is a bit like tapping the side of a painting to check if it is real. Not very scientific, but oddly satisfying.
But, why do we care so much?
If the information is correct, helpful, and exactly what a human would have said, why does it feel uncomfortable when we realise it came from an AI? Why do we feel a bit… conned?
Part of it is expectation. When we think we are speaking to a person, we assume intent, judgement, and accountability. We believe there is someone on the other end choosing their words. When that turns out not to be true, the interaction suddenly feels different, even if nothing actually changed in the content.
There is also the matter of authenticity. Humans do not just exchange information. We read tone, hesitation, personality, and context. Even in a short sales chat, we are subconsciously deciding whether we trust the individual. When the “individual” is an algorithm, some people feel that trust was never properly earned.
And yet, there is a contradiction here. Many of us are perfectly happy using AI for research, drafting emails, or summarising reports. We value the speed and clarity. So, the discomfort is not really about AI itself. It is about transparency.
If we know we are speaking to an AI, we judge it on usefulness. If we think we are speaking to a human, we judge it on authenticity. The friction happens when those expectations collide.
Maybe the real takeaway is not how to trick a bot into revealing itself. Maybe it is that the line between human and AI communication is blurring, and we are still figuring out what we want from each. Do we want efficiency, or connection? Accuracy, or personality? Ideally both.
Until then, people will keep asking for recipes mid pitch and making odd requests on video calls. And honestly, that says less about the technology and more about us.
Author: Deborah Holmwood, Client Change & Transformation Partner.
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