FCC Confirms TCPA Bars AI-Generated Voices and Adopts New Consent Revocation Rights Rules for Texts
In response to a January update, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) published a Declaratory Ruling stating that actual voices produced by artificial intelligence (“AI”) are subject to the prohibitions outlined in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) regarding taped or artificial voice calls. The Declaratory Ruling’s instruction is currently applicable to all relevant phone calls as of February 2, 2024, the date of adoption.
“The TCPA’s restrictions on the use of ‘artificial or prerecorded voice’ encompass current AI technologies that generate human voices, such as ‘voice cloning,'” according to the Declaratory Ruling. The Declaratory Ruling explicitly states that, in general, callers using AI-generated voice calls must: (1) obtain prior express consent or prior express written consent from the called party (unless there is an emergency or an exemption); (2) adhere to FCC rules requiring calls made using prerecorded or artificial voices to contain certain identification information and disclosures about the party responsible for initiating the calls; and (3) provide the ability to opt-out of call in accordance with the FCC’s revocation of consent rules.
Declaratory Ruling and TCPA restrictions apply to “any AI technology that initiates any outbound telephone call using an artificial or prerecorded voice to consumers,” which is a notable example of the Declaratory Ruling’s comprehensive approach to the usage of AI. As mentioned above, this includes “voice cloning” and related technologies that enable callers to either: (i) create a voice that “resemble[s] the voice of a real person taken from an audio clip to make it appear as though that person is speaking on the call to interact with consumers”; or (ii) “wholly simulate an artificial voice.”
Furthermore, the Declaratory Ruling upholds the FCC’s earlier conclusion in its Soundboard Ruling that any call utilizing artificial or prerecorded speech is subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), including calls in which a human agent chooses which prerecorded messages to play.
The FCC has adopted rules to strengthen texting consent revocation rights, following a draft report and order proposed for consideration at its February Open Meeting. The FCC made significant changes to the adopted report and order:
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The FCC clarified that in disputes over consent revocation, the factfinder must consider a “totality of the circumstances.” If a consumer sends a message in a language other than English and attempts revocation using reasonable words, the factfinder may conclude the revocation attempt is reasonable under this analysis.
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The FCC clarified that if a specific legal standard requires a delay in sending revocation confirmation messages, it is presumed reasonable if the delay exceeds five minutes, otherwise acceptable.
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The FCC clarified that when a consumer revokes consent for informational messages, that revocation includes all messages, and the caller must cease all informational texts.
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The FCC mandates that in a revocation dispute, a consumer must identify the specific method used to convey the revocation to the factfinder, allowing them to use the rebuttable presumption.
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The FCC has adopted a revised Further Notice, which no longer proposes that the TCPA applies to robocalls and robotexts from wireless providers that call or text their own subscribers. Instead, it seeks additional comment on whether the TCPA applies to these calls and texts. This change signifies that the FCC is no longer presumed to apply the TCPA to calls and texts from wireless providers to their subscribers.
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The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has issued two Removal Orders against thirteen voice service providers, removing their Robocall Mitigation Database (“RMD”) certifications. The orders require all intermediate and voice service providers to no longer accept traffic from these entities. Failure to comply may lead to investigations and FCC enforcement actions. Four of the companies are domestic, while eight are foreign. The Bureau found that all companies failed to submit corrections or respond to the orders. No companies can refile in the RMD without permission from the Wireline Competition and Enforcement Bureaus. The recommendation is for any voice service or intermediate provider currently accepting traffic from these companies to cease doing so immediately.
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This article is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be relied on as legal advice for any particular matter.