The United States Federal Communications Commission has agreed to outlaw robocalls that use voice cloning technology. The development comes after a wave of robocalls used an AI-generated voice claiming to be Joe Biden to mislead voters during a US presidential election year.

“Today the Federal Communications Commission announced the unanimous adoption of a Declaratory Ruling that recognizes calls made with AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA),” the FCC announced via press release.

“The ruling, which takes effect immediately, makes voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers illegal. This would give State Attorneys General across the country new tools to go after bad actors behind these nefarious robocalls.”

CBS News has reported on recent incidents, including as many as 25,000 robocalls that used voice cloning to mislead potential voters in New Hampshire:

The FCC’s action follows an incident ahead of New Hampshire’s presidential primary last month in which a phony robocall impersonating President Biden encouraged voters not to cast ballots in the contest. An estimated 5,000 to 25,000 of the calls were made.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella on Tuesday said the AI-generated recording made to sound like the president has been linked to two Texas companies, with a criminal probe underway. 

While outlawing robocalls that use voice cloning won’t automatically prevent future incidents, the FCC position does give state attorneys-general the power to target and fine offenders.

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