In a unanimous vote, the Federal Communications Commission has banned robocalls with voices generated by artificial intelligence.
It's been a long day. You're about to sit down for dinner and a glass of red wine when your phone rings. You answer it.
Then you feel like screaming as your world goes dark.
It's a robocall.
And that's more than just an annoyance, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who wants to strengthen regulations.
Robocalls often are scams that cost Californians a lot of money, Bonta said in a news release on his website.
Bonta announced he has joined a bipartisan coalition of 47 state attorneys general who wrote the Federal Communications Commission to say enough is enough. They back an FCC proposal to better protect consumers from illegal robocalls.
The FCC wants to do that by making the Robocall Mitigation Database more effective.
The plan is to require additional steps to ensure accuracy and accountability, the commission said.
The attorneys general like the sound of that -- more so than the sound of a robocall.
Efforts to stop illegal robocalls
The FCC proposal would make reporting information to the database more effective and enforce consequences for filing false, incomplete or misleading information, Bonta said.
In their letter dated Tuesday to the FCC, the attorneys general said the information sent to the database too often "is clearly false or inaccurate and demonstrates contempt for the commission's requirements and the consumers those requirements protect."
The database should be more than a formality, the attorneys generals wrote.
Bonta cited actions he's taken against illegal robocalls. In May 2023, for example, he was part of a coalition of 49 bipartisan attorneys general who sued Avid Telecom for allegedly facilitating billions of unlawful robocalls that included Social Security, Medicare, and employment scams.
What is a robocall, and is it legal?
If you answer your phone and hear a recorded message, it's a robocall.
And it's illegal if the company trying to sell you something never got your written permission to make the call, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
"If you're getting robocalls trying to sell you something, odds are the calls are illegal. Many are also probably scams," the FTC said on its website.
Scammers find robocalls a cheap and easy way to take your money, the commission said.
Sometimes scammers say they're from government agencies and warn you that something bad will happen if you don't pay or don't give your personal information. If they insist you give that information, wire money, put it on a gift card, use a payment app, or send cryptocurrency, it's a scam, the FTC said.
Not all robocalls are illegal, the commission said. They're legal if they provide information or are a call to collect a debt, but the FTC warned robocalls offering services to decrease your debt are illegal and nearly always scams.
How to report and prevent robocalls
If you get an illegal robocall, hang up, the FTC said.
And you can report robocalls to the FTC and register your name not to get them at donotcall.gov.
That will take care of callers trying to sell you something, but you may hear from charities, political groups, debt collectors, and surveys, the commission said.
One plus is the registration never expires, the FTC said. You can also verify your previous registration at donotcall.gov.
"Call-blocking and call-labeling services can help you get fewer robocalls," the commission said but warned caller ID can be faked.
FCC rules against AI robocalls
In February, the FCC voted unanimously to ban robocalls with voices generated by artificial intelligence. See the video attached to this story.