Federal Communications Commission on Thursday prohibited robot calls which contain voices created by artificial intelligencea decision that sends a clear message that using this technology to defraud and mislead voters will not be tolerated.
The unanimous ruling targets robocalls made using artificial intelligence voice cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law that restricts unwanted calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages.
The announcement comes amid action by New Hampshire officials. their investigation into artificial intelligence-generated robocalls that imitated President Joe Biden’s voice to dissuade people from voting in the nation’s first primary last month.
Effective immediately, the ruling gives the FCC the power to fine companies that use artificial intelligence voices in their calls or block service providers that carry them. It also opens the door for call recipients to file lawsuits and gives state attorneys general a new mechanism to prosecute violators, according to the FCC.
Chairman of the agency, Jessica Rosenworcel said attackers are using artificial intelligence-generated voices in robocalls to misinform voters, impersonate celebrities and extort money from family members.
“This seems like something from the distant future, but this threat is already here,” Rosenworcel told The Associated Press on Wednesday as the commission considered the rules. “We could all be on the receiving end of these hoax calls, so we felt the time to act was now.”
Under consumer protection law, telemarketers generally cannot use autodialers or artificial or prerecorded voice messages to make calls to cell phones, and cannot make such calls to landlines without the prior written consent of the call recipient.
The new regulation classifies AI-generated voices in robocalls as “artificial” and therefore subject to the same standards, the FCC said.
According to the FCC, violators of the law face hefty fines, with a maximum amount exceeding $23,000 per call. The agency has previously used consumer protection law to crack down on robocalls interfering with elections, including imposing a $5 million fine on two conservative hoaxers for falsely warning people in predominantly Black neighborhoods that voting by mail could increase their risk. arrest, debt collection and enforcement. vaccination.
The law also gives call recipients the right to sue and potentially recover up to $1,500 in damages for each unwanted call.
Rosenworcel said the commission began considering making robocalls using artificial intelligence-generated voices illegal because it had seen an increase in those types of calls. Last November, he asked for public comment on the issue, and in January, a bipartisan group of 26 state attorneys general wrote to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to issue a ruling.
Experts familiar with AI said the FCC’s decision is a step forward, but it will not completely eliminate the potential threat to the election.
Josh Lawson, director of artificial intelligence and democracy at the Aspen Institute, said that even despite the FCC ruling, voters should prepare for personalized spam targeting them via phone calls, text messages and social media.
“Real black hats tend to ignore the odds and know what they are doing is illegal,” he said. “We have to understand that bad actors will continue to shake cages and push boundaries.”
Sophisticated generative artificial intelligence tools, from voice cloning software to image generators, are already being used in elections in the US and around the world.
Last year, as the US presidential race began, several campaign ads used AI-generated audio and images, and some candidates experimented with using AI chatbots to communicate with voters.
A bipartisan effort in Congress aims to regulate AI in political campaigns, but federal legislation has failed to pass with the general election nine months away.
AI-generated robocalls that sought to influence the January 23 New Hampshire primary used a voice similar to Biden’s, used his oft-used phrase “What the fuck” and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would prevent voters from participating in voting. voting in November.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said the robocall in his state is a form of voter suppression that should not be tolerated.
“New Hampshire has sensed how AI could be used inappropriately in the election process,” Scanlan said. “It is certainly appropriate to try to take on the use and enforcement so that we do not mislead voters in a way that could harm our elections.”
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said Tuesday that investigators have identified the Texas company Life Corp. and its owner, Walter Monk, as the source of the calls that came to thousands of state residents, mostly registered Democrats. He said the calls were transferred to another Texas company, Lingo Telecom.
New Hampshire issued cease-and-desist orders and subpoenas, and the Federal Communications Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to the telecommunications company, Formella said. A working group of attorneys general from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. sent a letter to Life Corp. with a warning to immediately stop illegal calls.
According to the FCC, both Lingo Telecom and Life Corp. have been investigated in the past for illegal robocalls. In 2003, the FCC indicted Life Corp. for illegally delivering pre-recorded and unsolicited advertisements to residential buildings.
Most recently, a working group of attorneys general accused Lingo of being a gateway for 61 alleged illegal calls from overseas. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission issued a cease and desist order against Lingo’s former company, Matrix Telecom. The following year, the task force required it to take action to protect its network.
Lingo Telecom said in a statement Tuesday that it “acted immediately” to assist in the investigation into robocalls impersonating Biden and quickly identified and suspended Life Corporation when it was contacted by the task force. The company said it “had no involvement in the creation of the content of the call.”
A man who answered a business question from Life Corp. declined to comment Thursday.
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Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Washington contributed to this report.
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