SoftwareAIIn a targeted attack on phone spammers, the FCC just outlawed AI voice generation for robocallsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
SoftwareAIIn a targeted attack on phone spammers, the FCC just outlawed AI voice generation for robocallsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Robocalls are automated phone calls that play a pre-recorded message, commonly used for telemarketing or political campaigns. They’re an aggravation at the best of times, but the rise of AI makes them especially dangerous because instead of a random voice, a person might hear Clint Eastwood, Gregory Peck, or US president Joe Biden. That last one actually happened in January, when a fake-Biden-voiced robocall went out tomore than 20,000 people, urging Democrats not to vote.
Scamming people over the telephone is obviously illegal, but the FCC’s new rule makes the act of using AI to generate the voices used in robocalls itself illegal. The agency said the new regulation expands “the legal avenues through which state law enforcement agencies can hold these perpetrators accountable under the law.”
“Bad actors are using AI-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters. We’re putting the fraudsters behind these robocalls on notice,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in theannouncementof the new rule. “State Attorneys General will now have new tools to crack down on these scams and ensure the public is protected from fraud and misinformation.”
Thedeclaratory rulingwas made under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which allows for fines of $500 to $1,500 per violation—which is to say, per call. As you might imagine, that can add up in a hell of a hurry: In August 2023, the FCC levied a$300 million fineon the perpetrators of an auto warranty robocall scam that made more than five billion robocalls to more than 500 million phone numbers in a three month span.
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Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
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Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
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