The Federal Communications Commission is weighing a request from the conservative group Club for Growth to let political callers use artificial or prerecorded voices, including AI-generated ones, in calls to cellphones without first getting consent, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. The Republican-led FCC could rule as soon as late October, according to AP, ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
The FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau put the petition out for comment in a September 4 public notice, with reply comments due October 19. The group asks for a waiver for noncommercial political calls to wireless numbers under the same conditions that already apply to such calls to landlines, including no more than three calls to a line in any 30-day period and an automated opt-out that adds the number to the caller’s do-not-call list. The petition says the request is “fully aligned with the Administration’s AI Action Plan,” the White House’s July 2025 AI policy blueprint.
FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, a Democrat, urged the agency on Wednesday not to approve the petition, Reuters reported. If “the FCC allows a dark money group to flood Americans’ phones with AI-generated robocalls they never agreed to receive, it would bring chaos so close to Election Day,” she said. Club for Growth President David McIntosh said the group wants “the FCC to treat First Amendment-protected political speech the same way it already treats wireless calls about package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor’s appointments.”
Club for Growth says AI calling would help groups reach more voters, including in more languages, and improve polling accuracy, AP reported. Consumer advocacy groups warn the change could bring a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading automated calls in the final days of the campaign, according to AP. Tim Harper, who leads the elections team at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said a ruling close to Election Day would open “a huge opportunity for abuse during a period where harm has outsized impact,” according to AP. The National Consumer Law Center is urging the public to file comments against the petition and says the three-call limit is meaningless given the multitude of political action committees, campaigns and nonprofits that could make such calls.
The FCC ruled in February 2024 that the consent rules for calls using an “artificial or prerecorded voice” cover AI technologies that generate human voices. That ruling followed a robocall that used an AI-generated imitation of then-President Joe Biden’s voice to suggest New Hampshire voters skip the primary. The consultant behind those calls was later acquitted of criminal voter suppression charges but faced fines and civil damages, AP noted.
Sources
- AP (Ali Swenson), via ABC News: FCC considers allowing more political robocalls before midterms, including those created with AI (October 7, 2026)
- Reuters, via CNA: US agency considers allowing new AI political robocalls before election (October 7, 2026)
- FCC Public Notice DA 26-940: Comment sought on Club for Growth petition for expedited waiver, CG Docket No. 02-278 (September 4, 2026)
- FCC Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17 on AI-generated voices under the TCPA (February 8, 2024)
- National Consumer Law Center: Stop Efforts to Greenlight AI Robocalls Ahead of the Midterms (September 24, 2026)