AI for Service Businesses: What Changed in May 2026

Google said on May 19 that Search will call home repair, beauty, and pet care businesses on a customer's behalf and book local services, rolling out to everyone in the U.S. this summer (Google, 2026). Our read: more first calls about price and availability may come from Google's AI rather than the customer. May also brought self-serve ChatGPT ads, a rewritten Colorado AI law, and new Census data on who actually uses AI.

Google Search will call and book local businesses for customers

At Google I/O on May 19, 2026, Google's VP of Search, Elizabeth Reid, said Search is expanding agentic booking to "local experiences and services," and that for "select categories like home repair, beauty or pet care," people can ask Google to call businesses for them (Google, 2026). Google said these capabilities roll out to everyone in the U.S. this summer, and that AI Mode has passed one billion monthly users (Google, 2026). Google's Business Profile help says these automated calls are recorded, can book an appointment or confirm price and availability for a customer who used Search or Maps, and can be switched off under "Bookings and inquiries from customers" in a verified profile's settings (Google Business Profile Help, 2026).

Our read: Google's AI will ask the questions your front desk already gets. What does it cost, and when can you come out? A business that doesn't pick up, or can't give a price range, hands that booking to the next listing. Unanswered calls already cost money (run your numbers in the missed call calculator), whoever is calling. Our guide to how customers find businesses through AI search covers the listing fixes.

ChatGPT ads opened to self-serve buyers

On May 5, 2026, OpenAI began rolling out a beta self-serve Ads Manager that lets businesses sign up, buy ChatGPT ads directly, set budgets and bids, and view performance (OpenAI, 2026). It added cost-per-click bidding, so advertisers are charged only on a click, and pointed to its Conversions API and pixel for measuring actions such as a lead or sign-up (OpenAI, 2026). OpenAI said it is opening Ads Manager to more businesses gradually (OpenAI, 2026).

Our read: ChatGPT is turning into a paid channel as well as an organic one. OpenAI says its answers stay independent of ads (OpenAI, 2026), so showing up in the answer itself still matters. If you test the ads, judge them by booked jobs, not clicks.

Colorado rewrote its AI law, and routine scheduling is out

Colorado's governor signed SB 26-189 on May 14, 2026, repealing and reenacting the state's 2024 AI law (Colorado General Assembly, 2026). Starting January 1, 2027, a business that uses automated tools to materially influence consequential decisions about employment, housing, health-care services, insurance, lending, education, or government services must give consumers notice, explain adverse outcomes within 30 days, and offer human review of those outcomes on request, to the extent commercially reasonable (Colorado General Assembly, 2026; Colorado General Assembly, 2026).

The act says consequential decisions do not include "routine scheduling," "customer service triage," or advertising and marketing (Colorado General Assembly, 2026). Our read: an AI that answers your phone and books appointments is not the target. An AI tool that screens job applicants, or screens tenants for a Colorado rental, may be. This is general information, not legal advice.

About one in five businesses use AI, and small firms are flat

The Census Bureau reported on May 26, 2026, that 17% to 20% of U.S. businesses used AI between December 2025 and May 2026, and 20% to 23% expected to within six months (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026). Use rose among firms with at least 20 employees but did not change significantly among firms with fewer than 20, and less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees used AI (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026).

The survey asks whether a business used AI in any business function in the past two weeks (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026). Our read: if fewer than one in five of the smallest firms report using AI, an owner who automates call answering and follow-up is still early, not late. Our AI employee vs. front desk hire guide walks through that decision.

What to do this week

1. Call your own main line at lunch and after hours. Note what a caller gets: a person, voicemail, or nothing. If Google's AI calls you for a customer, it gets the same experience.
2. Write a one-line price range and next-open-slot answer for your top three services, and put it where whoever answers the phone can see it.
3. Search your top service and city in Google's AI Mode and in ChatGPT. Write down which businesses get named, and repeat it monthly.
4. Before you spend on ChatGPT ads, set up conversion tracking and decide what counts as a lead. Start with a capped test budget.
5. If you do business in Colorado, list every AI tool that screens job applicants or tenants, and ask each vendor how it will meet the 2027 notice rules.

Where Nirvani fits

Nirvani captures incoming calls, texts, social messages, and website chat in one system. Its AI employees answer, qualify leads, book appointments into your calendar, follow up on no-shows, and send review requests. It runs 24/7, in your business's voice, around the processes your team already uses. Our AI receptionist guide shows how that works on the phone.