The FCC’s war on robocalls has gained a new weapon in its arsenal by declaring AI-generated voices “artificial” and therefore definitely against the law when used in robocall scams. It might not stop the flood of Joe Biden fakes that are almost certain to plague our phones this election season, but it won’t hurt either.
The new rule, studied for months and telegraphed last week, is not actually a young rule — the FCC can’t just make them up without due process. Robocalls are just a new term for something that is already largely prohibited under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act: artificial and pre-recorded messages sent intentionally to every number in the phone book (something that still existed when the law was drafted).
The question was whether an AI-cloned voice speaking a script fell into these prohibited categories. It may seem obvious to you, but nothing is obvious to the federal government by design (and sometimes for other reasons), and the FCC had to look into it and seek expert opinion on whether AI-generated voice calls they should be illegal.
This was likely spurred by the high-profile (but silly) case last week of a fake President Biden calling the citizens of New Hampshire and telling them not to waste their primary vote. The shady businesses that tried to pull this one off are an example, with attorneys general and the FCC, and maybe more authorities to come, more or less putting them on the line in an effort to deter others.
As we’ve written, the call wouldn’t be legal even if it was a Biden impersonator or a cleverly manipulated recording. It’s still illegal theft and likely a form of voter suppression (though no charges have yet been filed), so there was no problem fitting it into existing definitions of illegality.
But these cases, whether brought by states or federal agencies, must be supported by evidence in order to go to trial. Before today, using an AI voice clone of the president might have been illegal in some ways, but not specifically in the context of robocalls — an AI voice clone of your doctor telling you your appointment is coming up wouldn’t be a problem. for example. (Importantly, you probably would have chosen that.) After today, however, the fact that the voice in the call was fake AI would be a point against the accused in the legal process.
Here is an excerpt from the declaratory judgment:
Our finding will prevent negative uses of AI and ensure that consumers are fully protected by the TCPA when they receive such calls. And it also makes clear that the TCPA does not permit any carving out of technologies that purport to provide the equivalent of a live agent, thereby preventing unscrupulous businesses from attempting to exploit any perceived ambiguity in the TCPA rules. Although voice cloning and other uses of artificial intelligence in calls are still evolving, we’ve already seen them used in ways that can uniquely harm consumers and those whose voices have been cloned. Voice cloning can convince a caller that a trusted person or someone they care about, such as a family member, wants or needs to take some action that they otherwise wouldn’t. Requiring consent for such calls arms consumers with the right not to receive such calls or, if they do, the knowledge to be wary of them.
It’s an interesting lesson in how legal concepts are sometimes made to be flexible and easily adapted — although there was a process and the FCC couldn’t arbitrarily change the definition (there are barriers to that), once the need became clear, there is no need to consult Congress or the president or anyone else. As the specialist body in these matters, they have the power to investigate and make these decisions.
Incidentally, this critically important ability is threatened by an impending Supreme Court decision that, if it goes as they fear, will overturn decades of precedent and paralyze US regulatory agencies. Good news if you like robots and polluted rivers!
If you get one of these AI robocalls, try to record it and report it to your local attorney general’s office — they probably belong to the anti-robocall league that was recently formed to coordinate the fight against these scammers.
