The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has ordered telecommunications corporations to submit countermeasures after making AI-based voice-cloning calls illegal. The plan is to punish not only the businesses that created voice-cloning messages, but additionally the telecommunications corporations that provided them.
Reuters reported on the twenty seventh (local time) that the chairman of the U.S. FCC has asked cable and telecommunications corporations, including AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, to submit detailed countermeasures to crack down on AI-generated political scam robocalls.
On this regard, Stephen Cramer, a Louisiana Democratic political consultant, was indicted on charges of using fake robocalls impersonating President Joe Biden to steer people to not vote within the Latest Hampshire Democratic primary in January.
The FCC fined Kramer $6 million. It also fined the telecommunications company Ringo Telecom $2 million for sending robocalls.
“AI technology could make deepfake voices low cost and straightforward to create,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a memo to carriers. “It is especially chilling to see AI voice clones getting used to impersonate candidates during an election 12 months.”
“As malicious actors and fraudsters gain easier access to AI tools, we must do every little thing we are able to to dam this garbage,” he continued.
There are growing concerns in Washington that AI-generated content could mislead voters in November’s presidential election, and a few senators are pushing for laws to handle AI issues before November.
Chairman Rosenworcel asked telecoms corporations to submit plans by July 15, including whether or not they have dedicated staff and technology to discover AI voices and how one can prevent unverified AI message campaigns.
Charter Communications, a telecommunications and cable operator, said in a press release that “now we have been proactive in addressing the robocall problem for a very long time,” and that “because the risks proceed to evolve, we’ll proceed to work with the FCC and our industry partners to guard our customers.”
Individually, Chairman Rosenworcel proposed requiring radio and tv political ads to reveal whether the content was generated by AI.
Reporter Park Chan cpark@aitimes.com
