The short answer

Google's AI, called Gemini, is now built into Google Business Profile — and a new AI-powered "Message" button lets an AI agent answer customer questions using your profile. That means AI is now speaking on your behalf, whether you set it up or not. Your job this week is simple: make sure your profile is accurate and complete, so the AI has good facts to work with.

What's actually changing

Open your Google Business Profile this month and you may notice something new. Gemini now offers to write your business description, suggest replies to reviews, and draft posts for you.

There's more on the way, too:

Here's why this matters. When someone asks Google "Is this cafe open on Sundays?" or "Do they take walk-ins?", the answer comes straight from your profile. If your hours are wrong, your services are incomplete, or your description is vague, the AI passes that along — confidently and out loud.

Treat your profile like a fact sheet

The simplest way to think about this: your Google Business Profile is now a fact sheet for a new employee who never sleeps and answers every question for you. The AI can only be as accurate as the information you hand it.

A complete, current profile means AI recommends you correctly. A thin one means it guesses — or quietly skips you for a competitor who filled things in.

What to check this week

Four quick passes will cover most of the risk.

1. Check the basics. Hours (including holidays), phone number, address, and website — are they exactly right, today? These are the questions AI answers most often, so mistakes here do the most damage.

2. Fill every field. Services, products, and attributes like "outdoor seating," "wheelchair accessible," or "free parking." An empty field is a missing answer. If you don't list that you offer delivery, the AI can't tell a customer that you do.

3. Rewrite your description in plain, specific language. Say what you do, who you serve, and where. "Family-run Italian restaurant in downtown Boise, open for lunch and dinner" beats "the best dining experience in town." Specific facts give the AI something real to repeat; vague praise gives it nothing.

4. Answer the Q&A section yourself. Post the five questions you get asked most, with clear, short answers — before someone else fills them in for you. Anyone can add a question to your profile, and the answer that sticks is often the first one posted. Make sure that's yours.

A note for agencies

If you manage profiles for clients, this is a good week to run the same checklist across every account. The AI features roll out automatically, so a client whose profile was "good enough" for search may now be actively feeding wrong answers to an AI agent. Auto-generated descriptions are also worth a look — Gemini can draft them, but you'll want to review the wording before it speaks for the business.

Google is one source, not the only one

Your Google profile is one place AI pulls from, but it's not the only one. Assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity build their answers from across the web — your website, directories, reviews, and mentions on other sites. Getting your Google Business Profile right is a strong start, but it's one piece of a bigger picture.

The bottom line

AI is now answering customer questions using your business information, automatically. The businesses that win are the ones handing it clean, complete, specific facts. Spend twenty minutes this week making your profile accurate, and you've done the single most useful thing you can to make sure AI recommends you — correctly.

Want to see how you show up when customers ask an AI for a recommendation? A quick SimpleAIO check scores where you stand and hands you plain-English fixes — starting with the ones that matter most.