A political consultant was fined $6 million by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday for making phony robocalls that imitated President Joe Biden’s voice and advising voters in New Hampshire not to cast ballots in the state’s Democratic primary. Steven Kramer, a Democratic political strategist from Louisiana, was charged in New Hampshire in May for allegedly pushing voters to postpone voting until November. Representative Dean Phillips, Biden’s main opponent, who Kramer had worked for, condemned the calls.
In order to draw attention to the risks of artificial intelligence in political campaigns, Kramer told media outlets in January that he had spent $500 to have the calls delivered to voters. According to the FCC, an AI-generated deepfake audio recording designed to mimic Biden’s voice was used to create the calls. Inaccurate caller ID information cannot be transmitted, according to FCC regulations. According to the commission, Kramer has 30 days to pay the fine or the case will be sent to the Justice Department for collection.
It was not immediately possible to get in touch with Kramer or a spokesman. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel stated, “It is now inexpensive and simple to use Artificial Intelligence to clone voices and flood us with fake sounds and images.” “This technology has the potential to illegally tamper with elections by stealing the image of someone we know. To put an end to this deception, we must expose it when we witness it and employ all available resources.
