The FCC has adopted a Declaratory Ruling that confirms that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) restrictions on the use of “artificial or prerecorded voice” encompass current artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that generate human voices. The rise in these types of calls has increased over the last few years as such technology can now confuse consumers with misinformation by imitating the voices of political candidates, celebrities, and even family members.
This ruling, which takes effect immediately, makes voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers illegal. Calls that use this technology will now require the prior express consent of the called party to initiate such calls absent an emergency purpose or exemption. Additionally, state Attorneys General will now have additional tools to go after bad actors behind such robocalls.
