Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the US Senate, has called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject a petition from the conservative group Club for Growth that would permit the use of robocalls generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in the run-up to the November midterm elections.
Speaking on Monday, Schumer warned: "Under this change, campaigns could use an opponent's voice to send a message that, at its mildest, is dishonest, and at its worst, is a blatant lie."
The petition was filed on August 31, with a public comment period running from September 4 until this Monday. Earlier in the month, FCC Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez had also urged her colleagues not to take up the petition filed by the national conservative fiscal policy organization.
Gomez's concerns echo Schumer's. In an interview with Reuters, the commissioner said: "If the FCC allowed a dark-money group to flood Americans' phones with AI-generated robocalls they never consented to receive, it would cause chaos right before Election Day."
Those concerns are not unfounded. During the 2024 presidential election, ahead of the New Hampshire primary, voters received AI-generated calls featuring the voice of then-incumbent President Joe Biden urging them not to vote. The FCC later determined that a political consultant working for little-known candidate Dean Phillips was responsible.
At the state level, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont this year passed laws requiring disclosure for AI-generated campaign calls. Robocalls have been used in political campaigns for years; FCC rules bar such calls to mobile phones without prior consent, but the restrictions do not apply to landlines.
Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in a statement earlier this month that the group was asking the FCC "to treat constitutionally protected political speech the same way it treats wireless calls about deliveries, bank accounts and doctor's appointments."
An FCC spokesperson told Al Jazeera: "No one at the FCC has expressed interest in issuing an order on this matter or any of the petitions, and there is no such plan. The FCC seeks comment on petitions it receives under normal procedure."
