Democratic FCC member warns of AI robocall misinformation risks in US

FCC commissioner warns against AI robocalls, citing risks of misinformation before crucial midterm elections.

Anna Gomez, the Democratic member of the United States Federal Communications Commission, has urged the federal agency not to allow robocalls generated with artificial intelligence in the lead-up to the midterm elections in early November.

On Wednesday, the commissioner pushed back against a petition from Club for Growth, a national conservative fiscal policy organisation, to allow AI-generated robocalls.

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The petition, filed on August 31, requested that the federal agency allow political groups to make automated phone calls to people without their prior permission. The group said it would limit calls so that the same person would not receive more than three calls over the course of 30 days and would be presented with the option to opt out.

The FCC’s public comment period began on September 4, with the deadline for comments on Monday. Responses to those comments are due October 19, and the FCC has yet to decide whether it will approve the request.

Robocalls have been used in political campaigns for years. The FCC prohibits such calls to cellphones and pagers without the called party’s prior express consent, but they are permitted to landlines.

The concern with the use of AI is that it can sound like a real person and make it easier to impersonate someone. On the back of a rising number of scams using the technology, the FCC, in February 2024, banned it, saying, “this action now makes the act of using AI to generate the voice in these robocalls itself illegal.”