The Federal Communications Commission (FCC<\/a>) has outlawed robocalls containing voices generated by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n The ruling, which was unanimous, was made on Thursday, February 8. It gives the state power to prosecute \u201cbad actors\u201d under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, a statute that prohibits junk robocalls with pre-recorded messages.<\/p>\n Under this consumer protection law, telemarketers are prohibited from using automated dialers or artificial voice messages in calls to cell phones. They also cannot make such calls to landlines without prior written consent from the call recipient.<\/p>\n Under this new ruling, AI-generated voices in robocalls are classed as \u201cartificial\u201d and enforceable in the same way.\u00a0 Those who break the law can face steep fines of up to $23,000 per call.<\/p>\n \u201cBad actors are using AI-generated voices<\/a> in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters,\u201d FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement<\/a>.\u201dWe\u2019re putting the fraudsters behind these robocalls<\/a> on notice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This new law comes after a recent scam where a \u2018deepfake\u2019 of Joe Biden\u2019s voice<\/a> encouraged New Hampshire residents not to vote in the recent primaries.<\/p>\n \u201cVoting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again,\u201d the voice said.<\/a> \u201cYour vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.\u201d The voice also adopted Biden\u2019s much-used phrase: \u201cWhat a lot of malarkey.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s estimated that 5,000-25,000 calls were placed during this period, with the authorities later tracing the call to two companies in Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, it\u2019s not like maybe it used to be where it costs thousands of dollars to create a deep fake. We\u2019re talking about something that someone can do on their phone in five minutes time. It\u2019s a really big problem, and it\u2019s something we all need to be paying attention to,\u201d New Hampshire state representative Angela Brennan told CBS.<\/a><\/p>\n Featured Image Credit: Photo by Alex Andrews; Pexels<\/a><\/p>\nRobocalls in politics<\/h2>\n
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