Continuing its focus on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in robocalls, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sent letters to nine telecommunications companies asking about the efforts they are taking to prevent fraudulent robocalls that use AI for political purposes.

The letters were sent in the wake of two notable FCC enforcement actions related to AI and political calls. In the first, the FCC sought $6 million from Steve Kramer, a political consultant who sent robocalls featuring AI-generated voice cloning technology with a deepfake audio recording of President Joseph Biden. In the second, the FCC sough $2 million from  Lingo Telecom for failing to verify caller ID information in connection with these robocalls.

In addition, the agency issued a declaratory ruling clarifying that “artificial or prerecorded voice” robocalls using AI voice cloning technology violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. To help with enforcement, the FCC partnered with state attorneys general, giving them the authority to seek damages under the statute when taking action against robocallers.

“This is just the beginning,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement about the letters, which were sent to AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DISH, Frontier, Lumen, T‑Mobile and Verizon. Chair Rosenworcel continued, “[w]e know that AI technologies will make it cheap and easy to flood our networks with deepfakes used to mislead and betray trust. It is especially chilling to see AI voice cloning used to impersonate candidates during elections. As AI tools become more accessible to bad actors and scammers, we need to do everything we can to keep this junk off our networks.”

To assist the FCC in keeping illegal robocalls—especially those using AI-generated voices—off the networks, the agency asked the letter recipients to answer a series of inquiries. Questions included the steps each company takes to authenticate calls, in line with the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN rules and policies, a description of each company’s Know Your Customer Practice (including how customer identity and information is verified) and whether each company dedicates resources to respond to FCC requests for information related to suspected illegal robocall campaigns.

The agency also inquired whether each company has dedicated resources—human or technological—capable of identifying generative AI voices, what each company’s involvement or contribution is to the Industry Traceback Group and what other steps each company has taken to address the threat of unauthorized AI-generated messaging campaigns during elections.

To read the letters sent by the FCC, click here.

Why it matters

The FCC has shown a great deal of interest in the use of AI technology, from the enforcement actions earlier this year (link when the story posts) to a Notice of Inquiry published last November, seeking information on the potential for regulation of AI technology.