Acting expeditiously in part in response to recent events, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) declared on February 8 that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s “restrictions on the use of ‘artificial or prerecorded voice’ encompass current [artificial intelligence (“AI”)] technologies that generate human voices.” Therefore, the FCC ruled “calls that use such technologies fall under the TCPA and the [FCC’s]…implementing rules and…require the prior express consent of the called party to initiate such callas absent an emergency purpose or exemption.” If telemarketing is involved, prior express written consent is required. However, contrary to other media reports, the FCC ruling neither bans use of AI, nor even requires consent to use AI to create content that is in text or that is subsequently converted into artificial voice. Rather, it merely equates AI-voice generation to other forms of artificial or prerecorded voice messages for TCPA consent purposes. Since prior express consent to use of artificial or prerecorded voice messages is what the TCPA requires, that is what the consent should cover. However, it is advised that the use of AI to generate such audio content should also be disclosed as part of the consent.Continue Reading FCC Rules Voice-Cloned Robocalls Are Covered by the TCPA as Artificial/Pre-Recorded