January 17, 2024 – In a significant move, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a consortium of 25 other attorneys general have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), emphasizing the adverse impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on robocalls and robotexts. The group argues that AI-generated voices should come under the purview of the “artificial voice” category as per the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. This would necessitate consumers’ prior written consent before they can receive such calls.
Addressing the Menace of Robocalls
The initiative aims to shield consumers from the escalating deceit and potential financial harm caused by robocalls, which frequently involve scams. In 2022 alone, phone call and text scams resulted in over $1.13 billion in financial losses across the nation. The comment letter aligns with the FCC’s precedent of adapting to technological advancements and the attorneys general’s ongoing efforts to combat robocalls, such as the nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force and a recent lawsuit against Avid Telecom for facilitating billions of unlawful robocalls.
Bipartisan Effort to Protect Consumers
The coalition comprises attorneys general from 26 states and the District of Columbia, demonstrating a bipartisan effort to address this issue. These efforts are in sync with the work of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in enforcing federal competition and consumer protection laws to prevent anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices. The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection stops unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices by collecting reports from consumers and conducting investigations, even suing companies that make deceptive claims about their products or services.
AI in the Crosshairs of Regulation
AI-generated robocalls are also on the FTC’s radar as technology has made it easier for companies to send out thousands of phone calls every minute. This issue is not just domestic. Similar regulations are emerging worldwide, including in Europe and China. The Biden administration has issued an executive order establishing new standards for protecting Americans’ privacy and managing the risks of AI. Independent regulators are encouraged to use their authorities to protect American consumers from fraud, discrimination, and threats to privacy arising from the use of AI.
To combat the issue of unwanted calls, law firm Troutman Amin, LLP, based in Irvine, California, has been successful in stopping billions of unwanted robocalls by educating the lead generation industry on telemarketing regulations. Since 2018, overall complaints of unwanted robocalls have plummeted 71% due to their efforts.
By BNN
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