The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States has proposedfraudA fine of $6 million was imposed onVoice cloningThe FCC has used technology to impersonate President Biden in a series of illegal harassment calls, sparking a discussion about the relationship between harassment calls and artificial intelligence. The fine is more for harassment calls, but the FCC is clearly positioning it as a warning to other potential high-tech scammers.
Source Note: The image is generated by AI, and the image is authorized by Midjourney
In January, many New Hampshire voters received a call claiming to be from the president, telling them not to vote in the upcoming primary. It was fake, of course — it was President Biden’s voice cloned using technology that has become widely available in recent years.
Although it’s been possible to create fake voices for a long time, generative AI platforms have made it easy: Dozens of services offer cloned voices with few restrictions or oversight. You can easily make your own Biden voice using a few minutes of his speeches, which are naturally easy to find online.
However, the FCC and several law enforcement agencies have made it clear that that fake Biden voice cannot be used to suppress voters through already illegal phone harassment.
“We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot exploit America’s telecommunications networks to use generative AI techniques to interfere in elections, defraud consumers, or compromise sensitive data,” said Raujan Igal, director of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, in a press release.
“Political consultant” Steve Cramer was the main offender, although he had help from the dubious Life Corporation (previously charged with illegal harassment calls) and the dubious telecommunications company Lingo (aka Americatel, BullsEyeComm, Clear Choice Communications, Excel Telecommunications, Impact Telecom, etc.) to provide phone service.
Kramer “clearly” violated several regulations, but no criminal charges have yet been filed against him or his collaborators. This is a limit to the FCC’s power: they must work with local or federal law enforcement to support their findings of liability as an expert agency.
The $6 million fine is more of a cap or aspiration; as with agencies like the FTC, the actual amount paid is often significantly less for a number of reasons, but even so, it is still a significant sum. The next step is for Kramer to respond to the charges, though with a separate action against Lingo, and perhaps they could face fines or loss of license if they get caught again.
Generative voices were officially outlawed for use in harassment calls in February, and the case above raises the question of whether they are considered “artificial” — and the FCC very wisely decided that they are.