The United States Federal Communication Commission wants to make AI-generated robocalls illegal, and the agency is looking to vote on this new regulation against the misuse of the technology. The rampant campaigns involving robocalls against American citizens are at a high and despite initial efforts of the FCC, there are still various incidents present.
More recently, there was an AI-generated robocall that used President Joe Biden's voice and asked New Hampshire voters to skip the primary elections in the state.
FCC Wants to Make AI-Generated Robocalls Illegal
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FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel recently announced her proposal, a Declaratory Ruling that would make AI-generated robocalls illegal, highlighting the artificial voices in this ruling. The FCC's head wants to stem the massive misuse of generative AI in the communications sector, especially as it maligns people by pretending to be known individuals like politicians, celebrities, and family members.
Common robocall scams have evolved from using machine-generated voices to artificial voices, using cloning technology to replicate another person.
According to NBC News, the Commission will move to vote on the proposal in the coming weeks, with AI-generated robocalls facing the law's wrath if approved.
Rosenworcel said that this would be made illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), an existing law that prioritizes consumers who are targeted by scams and crimes via communication. Under the law, AI-generated robocalls would face regulations and restrictions, one that would possibly help stem the massive issues America is facing now with fake calls.
Robocalls and Generative AI
The fight against robocalls has been massive since years ago, and the FCC sits on top of it to combat its rampant campaigns which have been pestering and victimizing Americans for a long time now. One of the moves the FCC made was to look against telecommunication companies that fail to prevent robocall scams from happening to their customers.
On a more recent move, the commission is now refocusing the campaign against robocalls to the massive availability of generative AI that features voice generation using known individuals or making them sound more human-like.
It is important to note that these scams went as far as to disrupt elections, with POTUS Biden known for being the latest victim where his voice was used against the American voters in New Hampshire. It was concluded by an analysis that this artificial voice was created using the text-to-speech technology from ElevenLabs.
Amidst the notorious campaigns of robocalling, the FCC is now moving towards voting to make robocalls using generative AI illegal, with the agency holding a meeting to evaluate it. The existing TCPA law will have a new section that will cover the regulation of AI-generated robocalls, one that would hopefully stop the misuse of artificial intelligence and stem robocalling in the US.
