Schumer Demands FCC Block AI Robocalls Ahead of Elections

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject a petition that would permit AI-generated robocalls before the November midterm elections. The petition was filed by the conservative group Club for Growth, and its public comment period is now closing.

“Under this change, campaigns could use their opponents’ voice to send out a message that is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, a blatant lie,” Schumer stated on Monday.

The petition was initially submitted on August 31, with the public comment period commencing on September 4 and concluding on Monday.

Earlier this month, Anna Gomez, a Democratic member of the FCC, also urged her colleagues not to consider the petition from the national conservative fiscal policy organization, echoing Schumer’s concerns. “If the FCC allows a dark money group to flood Americans’ phones with AI-generated robocalls they never agreed to receive, it would bring chaos so close to Election Day,” Commissioner Gomez told Reuters.

Concerns about AI in political campaigns are not new. During the 2024 presidential election, an AI-generated robocall impersonating President Joe Biden was sent to voters before the New Hampshire primary, advising them not to vote. The FCC attributed this incident to a political consultant working with Dean Phillips.

Several states have taken legislative action, with Louisiana, Tennessee, and Vermont passing laws this year that require disclosures for AI-generated campaign phone calls. While robocalls have long been a tool in political campaigns, current FCC rules prohibit such calls to cellphones without prior consent, though these restrictions do not extend to landlines.

Club for Growth’s president, David McIntosh, argued in a statement that the group is requesting the FCC to apply the same treatment to First Amendment-protected political speech as it does to non-political calls regarding package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor’s appointments.

A spokesperson for the FCC commented, “There is no one at the FCC that has expressed any interest in moving to an order on this or any of the petitions, and there are zero plans to do so. The FCC seeks comment on petitions that come in as a matter of normal procedure.”