Comment by Geoffrey Starks

We all know unwanted robocalls are a scourge on our society. But I am particularly troubled by recent harmful and deceptive uses of voice cloning in robocalls. Real world examples here are no longer theoretical. Bad actors are using voice cloning – a generative AI technology that uses a recording of a human voice to generate speech sounding like that voice – to threaten election integrity, harm public safety, and prey on the most vulnerable members of our society. [...] I am proud that the FCC is also stepping in to play its own unique role. We said it in our November Notice of Inquiry, and today’s Declaratory Ruling makes it clear: the use of voice cloning in telephone calls and texts falls within the FCC’s statutory authority under the TCPA. The Act prohibits calls using “artificial or prerecorded voice[s]” without consent. What is voice cloning, if not the use of an artificial voice? By issuing this item, we’re responding to 26 bipartisan state attorneys general, who last month emphasized to the FCC that “any type of AI technology that generates a human voice should be considered an ‘artificial voice’ for purposes of the TCPA.”5