Schumer Urges FCC to Block AI Robocalls Petition Ahead of November Elections

POLICY WIRE — Washington, United States — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Monday pressed the Federal Communications Commission to reject a petition that would clear the way for political artificial intelligence-generated robocalls ahead of the upcoming congressional elections.

The request, submitted by the conservative advocacy organization Club for Growth, seeks permission to contact cell phones using artificial or prerecorded voices, including AI-generated audio, without obtaining prior express consent.

Schumer warned that lowering these regulatory barriers would enable political campaigns to appropriate their opponents’ voices to propagate misleading statements or outright falsehoods.

He argued that no justification exists to relax these standards and permit special interest groups to flood personal mobile devices with deepfakes or dark-money-backed artificial intelligence voices.

With the public comment period expiring on Monday, the regulatory agency could make a decision on the petition this week before the November 3 election.

A spokesperson representing FCC Chair Brendan Carr did not immediately offer a comment on the matter.

Defending the application earlier this month, Club for Growth President David McIntosh stated in a release that the organization wants the commission to treat political speech protected by the First Amendment similarly to wireless notifications concerning package deliveries, banking services, and medical appointments.

The conservative group, which promotes economic policies centered on tax reduction, deregulation, and shrinking the size of government, has outlined plans to invest $175 million in the midterm congressional elections according to its official website.

The FCC has previously characterized the messaging system described in the petition as utilizing a perfunctory human operator solely for clicking a send or similarly labeled button to dispatch thousands of text messages every hour.

Opposition to the petition has also come from Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez alongside several public interest organizations.

Highlighting past enforcement actions, Schumer recalled that the commission proposed a $6 million penalty in 2024 against a political consultant for deploying fraudulent robocalls that mimicked the voice of then-President Joe Biden to dissuade New Hampshire voters from participating in the state’s Democratic primary.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)