The American telecoms regulator (FCC) has decided to ban automated calls made with voices generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) program, in order to fight against the increasingly sophisticated scams enabled by this technology.
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“Malicious actors are using AI-generated voices in unsolicited phone calls to extort vulnerable family members, impersonate celebrities, and misinform voters. We are warning the fraudsters behind these phone calls,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the FCC, quoted in a press release from the federal agency on Thursday.
The FCC specifies that its decision, which takes effect immediately, makes illegal the voice cloning technologies used in these automated calls or “robocalls”, aimed at defrauding consumers.
The explosion over the past year of generative AI, which makes it possible to generate content (texts, images, sounds) upon simple request in everyday language, has raised major concerns and various attempts at regulation.
“The increase in these types of calls has accelerated in recent years as this technology now makes it possible to deceive consumers with misinformation by imitating the voices of celebrities, political candidates and close family members », notes the FCC.
Recently, rigged calls impersonating President Joe Biden, designed to encourage New Hampshire residents not to vote in the Democratic primary, made a lasting impression. An investigation into a potential “illegal attempt to disrupt” the vote is underway.
In October, the Head of State signed a decree to better regulate AI, in terms of security, fairness and even its impact on the labor market. The text notably recommends the development of tools to easily identify content produced with AI.
On this occasion, the 80-year-old Democrat mentioned having seen a video of himself created from scratch with AI (deepfake).
“I asked myself when could I have said that?”, Joe Biden said, getting emotional about the use of AI to scam people by posing as members of their family.
“State attorneys general will now have new tools to crack down on these scams and ensure that the public is protected against fraud and misinformation,” Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday.
