GOP robocall push sparks alarm as Schumer urges FCC to reject AI call request

WASHINGTON, DC: A conservative political group has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ease restrictions on AI-generated robocalls ahead of November’s midterm elections.

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has urged the commission to reject the group’s petition, warning that the technology could be misused to clone voices and spread misleading messages.

Schumer urges FCC to reject GOP-aligned group’s appeal, warns of misuse

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has warned against the potential misuse of AI-generated robocalls as the conservative group Club for Growth seeks to ease restrictions on political calls ahead of the 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 concerns a petition filed by Club for Growth, a conservative economic policy group, seeking permission for political organizations to make automated calls to cellphones without obtaining recipients’ prior consent.

The proposal would also allow the use of artificial or prerecorded voices, including AI-generated voices, for political calls. Schumer said loosening the restrictions could make it easier for political groups to spread misinformation 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.

Lone Democratic FCC commissioner echoes Schumer’s concerns

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the commission’s only Democratic member, 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 that the FCC could make a decision on the petition soon, with the November 3 midterm elections approaching.

However, an FCC spokesperson pushed back against speculation about 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 has argued that existing restrictions unfairly limit constitutionally protected political speech.

The organization’s president, former Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.), said earlier this month that the proposed change would help political organizations reach voters and communicate with them more effectively.

AI-generated robocalls are automated phone calls that use artificial intelligence and voice synthesis to deliver spoken messages or, in some cases, conduct interactive conversations with recipients.