AI-generated voices have been declared as “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This new ruling made by the Federal Communications Commission has made AI voice cloning technology used for robocall scams illegal. This will allow State Attorneys Generals to pursue the actors behind these robocall scams.  

A Notice of Inquiry launched in November of 2023 encouraged this ruling. The purpose of this Notice of Inquiry was to address the involvement of AI in robocall scams and explore ways to prevent these calls with AI pattern recognition that could root out AI-generated calls.

This ruling follows the rise of robocall scams that use AI to impersonate political figures, celebrities, or family members to extort individuals. Prior to this decision, the State Attorneys Generals could only pursue the resulting scam of a robocall, but not the AI-generated voice call itself. Now, perpetrators of these fraudulent calls can be held accountable through more legal avenues.