US Regulators Ban Artificially Generated Voice Robocalls

The United States telecommunications regulatory authority has decided to ban robocalls that use artificially generated voices created by artificial intelligence programs, in a move aimed at combating evolving fraudulent operations facilitated by this technology, according to Agence France-Presse.

Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, noted in a statement released on Thursday that “malicious actors are using artificially generated voices in unwanted phone calls” for various purposes, including extortion, impersonation of celebrities, and misleading voters. She warned “the scammers behind these phone calls.”

The commission clarified that its decision, which takes immediate effect, makes voice cloning technologies used in these automated calls, known as “robocalls,” illegal and constitutes consumer fraud.

The significant advancement of generative artificial intelligence over the past year has raised several concerns, prompting several attempts to regulate the use of this technology, which allows the creation of content—texts, images, and voices—based on simple language requests.

The agency pointed out that “the increase in these types of calls has accelerated in recent years as this technology has enabled deceiving consumers with misleading information by mimicking the voices of celebrities, political candidates, and close family members.”