Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject a petition from a conservative political group to ease restrictions on AI-generated robocalls ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“Under this change, campaigns could use their opponents’ voice to send out a message that is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, a blatant lie,” Schumer said in a statement.
His warning targets a petition filed by Club for Growth, a right-leaning economic policy group, that would allow political organizations to place automated calls to cellphones without permission from recipients. The proposal would cover prerecorded messages and calls containing voices created with AI.
The New York Democrat argued that loosening the rules would make it easier for political groups to spread false information to voters through convincing AI-generated audio.
“There is absolutely no excuse to relax these standards and allow special interests to flood our cellphone lines with deepfakes or dark-money-funded AI voices,” Schumer said.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democrat, echoed Schumer’s concerns, saying the senator was “right to be worried.”
“As early as this week, the FCC could unleash a flood of unwanted robocalls as voters are already inundated with this junk,” she said on the social platform X. “The last thing people want just weeks before an election is their phones overrun with AI slop.”
Gomez told CNN the FCC could make a decision in the coming days as the Nov. 3 midterms quickly approach.
But an FCC spokesperson pushed back on the possibility of an imminent approval in a statement to Reuters.
“There is no one at the FCC that has expressed any interest in moving to an order on this or any of the petitions and there are zero plans to do so,” the spokesperson said.
Club for Growth argued that existing restrictions unfairly limit constitutionally protected political speech.
Its president, former Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.), said earlier this week the change would help political organizations reach and communicate with voters in a more effective way.
“Our petition asks the FCC to treat First Amendment protected political speech the same way it already treats wireless calls about package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor’s appointments,” McIntosh said. “We think the Constitution protects a conversation with a voter at least as highly as a delivery update.”
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