The FCC opened comment on a request to allow unsolicited political calls using artificial or prerecorded voices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The Federal Communications Commission has advanced a petition seeking to loosen restrictions on political robocalls, including calls that use AI-generated voices. The request, brought by the conservative policy group Club for Growth, would allow political organizations to place certain unsolicited automated calls to cellphones without first obtaining recipients’ consent.
The FCC has opened the proposal to public comment, and the agency could decide as soon as late October. The reply-comment period is scheduled to close October 19. Under the proposed waiver, callers would still face some conditions, including an opt-out option and a limit of three calls to an individual within 30 days.
Current federal rules generally prohibit robocalls to mobile phones without advance consent. AI voice cloning has already featured in election-related calls: in 2024, New Hampshire voters received a fabricated call using a voice resembling then-President Joe Biden that urged them not to vote in the primary. The FCC subsequently ruled that AI-generated voice-cloning calls were covered by consumer-protection restrictions.
The petition comes shortly before the November midterms, giving the commission a compressed timeline if the waiver is to affect campaign outreach this election cycle. Supporters say the change could help political groups reach voters in more languages; consumer and democracy advocates warn that weakening the consent requirement could increase unwanted or deceptive calls. The FCC has not made a final decision, so the possible scope of any change remains unresolved.