The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday banned robocalls containing voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to defraud people and mislead voters will not be tolerated.

The unanimous ruling targets robocalls made with AI voice cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law that restricts unwanted calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages.

The announcement comes as New Hampshire authorities continue their investigation into AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Biden’s voice to discourage people from voting in last month’s presidential election.

Effective immediately, the regulation gives the FCC the authority to fine companies that use AI voices in their conversations or block the service providers that use them. It also opens the door for call recipients to file lawsuits and gives attorneys general a new mechanism to crack down on violators, the FCC said.

The agency’s president, Jessica Rosenworcel, said bad actors have used AI-generated voices in robocalls to misinform voters, impersonate celebrities and extort family members.

It seems like something from the distant future, but this threat is already here, Rosenworcel said Wednesday as the committee deliberated the regulations. We could all be on the receiving end of these hoax calls, so that’s why we felt now was the time to take action.

Under the Consumer Protection Act, telemarketers generally cannot use automated dialers or artificial or prerecorded voice messages to call cell phones, and they cannot make such calls to landlines without the recipient’s written consent.

The new ruling classifies AI-generated voices in robocalls as artificial and therefore enforceable under the same standards, the FCC said.

Those who violate the law could face steep fines, capped at more than $23,000 per call, the FCC said. The agency has previously used consumer law to crack down on robocallers interfering in elections, including fining two conservative hoaxers $5 million for falsely warning people in predominantly Black areas that voting by mail could increase their risk of arrest , debt collection and fraud. forced vaccination.

The law also gives call recipients the right to take legal action and potentially recover up to $1,500 in damages for each unwanted call.

Josh Lawson, director of AI and democracy at the Aspen Institute, said that even with the FCC ruling, voters should prepare for personalized spam that will target them by phone, text message and social media.

The real dark hats tend to ignore the stakes and they know what they are doing is illegal, he said.

Advanced generative AI tools, from vote cloning software to image generators, are already being used in elections in the US and around the world.

Last year, as the US presidential race got underway, several campaign ads used AI-generated audio or images, and some candidates experimented with using AI chatbots to communicate with voters. Bipartisan efforts in Congress have attempted to regulate AI in political campaigns, but no federal legislation has been passed.