Effective immediately, the calls will require prior express consent and other processes in line with the TCPA’s provisions on prerecorded or artificial voice automated call technology for the ARM industry.
02/12/2024 9:40 A.M.
4 minute read
The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a declaratory ruling confirming that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s restrictions on the use of “artificial or prerecorded voice” include artificial intelligence technologies that mimic human voices and/or create calls with a prerecorded voice.
“As a result, callers that use such technologies must obtain the prior express consent of the called party to initiate such calls absent an emergency purpose or exemption,” the FCC states in the ruling (PDF), effective immediately.
ACA International members using AI technologies that replicate human voices on outbound calls will need prior express consent of the called party, similar to the TCPA’s requirements on using any automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice call. If you already have consent to make prerecorded or artificial voice calls no additional consent should be required.
The FCC’s ruling also clarifies all AI or prerecorded voice messages must provide certain identification and disclosure information for the entity responsible for initiating the outbound call, consistent with current obligations around prerecorded or artificial voice calls. Additionally, telemarketing or advertisement calls using the technology need to include opt-out methods. These requirements are applicable to any AI technology that initiates any outbound telephone call using an artificial or prerecorded voice to consumers.
“Our finding will deter negative uses of AI and ensure that consumers are fully protected by the TCPA when they receive such calls,” the ruling states. “And it also makes clear that the TCPA does not allow for any carve out of technologies that purport to provide the equivalent of a live agent, thus preventing unscrupulous businesses from attempting to exploit any perceived ambiguity in our TCPA rules.”
In a news release (PDF) on the ruling, the FCC emphasizes it “makes voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers illegal.”
State attorneys general will have enforcement authority to identify and stop the “robocall scams.”
The AGs submitted comments to the FCC when the ruling was proposed, noting that marketing companies seeking to use AI to impersonate a human voice should be required to follow TCPA rules on artificial voices, particularly that consumers should provide prior express written consent for the calls, ACA previously reported.
ACA’s Take
The FCC appears focused on “voice cloning scams” to stop bad actors. The TCPA has already required prior express consent and opt-out methods for outbound automated and prerecorded or artificial voice calls; this ruling adds AI-generated voices to the mix.
Members using or considering this technology should use caution and evaluate the risks versus benefits, as with any other technology, and understand that an outbound AI voice call has the same compliance requirements as an ATDS and prerecorded or artificial voice call under the TCPA.
It is important to note this ruling is for outbound calls. Inbound calls from consumers that are assisted real time with AI voice bots, are not impacted.
ACA has supported AI regulation without impacting innovation in the financial services industry.
Potential rules on AI continue to be a top issue for regulators and in Congress.
In November 2023, a Senate subcommittee met with witnesses from consumer groups, businesses and technology organizations about ongoing legislative work to stop robocalls, enforcement efforts to reduce the impacts of robocalls and scammers’ use of artificial intelligence to generate robocalls, ACA previously reported.
The hearing was an important opportunity to gauge legislators’ focus on the issue and for ACA to advance efforts to ensure communications from legitimate businesses are getting through.
ACA submitted a letter (PDF) to subcommittee leadership in advance of the hearing outlining support for the FCC’s efforts to target illegal scam calls and text messages. The letter also pointed out that the FCC’s policies to stop robocalls have resulted in limiting legitimate informational calls that consumers need.
ACA’s advocacy team continues to work with the FCC on behalf of members to ensure it understands the industry’s need for communications with consumers to be protected while supporting mitigation against bad actors. ACA has resources available for working with your phone carriers on call and text blocking.
ACA hosted a Hot Topic webinar, “Robotic Collections: Precision with AI,” this week.
A panel of experts discussed how you can integrate AI into your business operations and address common concerns and provide actionable advice on embracing AI in your business. An archive of the webinar will be available on ACA’s education website under past recordings.
Remember, subscribe to ACA Daily and Member Alerts under your My ACA profile when logged in to acainternational.org to receive updates on the ACA Huddle.