US political consultant indicted over AI-generated Biden robocalls

WASHINGTON — A Louisiana Democratic political consultant was indicted over a fake robocall imitating US President Joe Biden seeking to dissuade people from voting for him in New Hampshire's Democratic primary election, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office said on May 23.

Steven Kramer, 54, faces 13 charges of felony voter suppression and 13 misdemeanour impersonation of a candidate charges after thousands of New Hampshire residents received a robocall message asking them not to vote until November.

He faces a series of initial court appearances starting on June 14 in Merrimack Superior Court.

Kramer told CBS and NBC in February he paid US$500 (S$676) to have the calls sent to voters to call attention to the issue, after the calls were discovered in January. He worked for Biden's primary challenger, Representative Dean Phillips, who denounced the calls.

Separately, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on May 23 proposed to fine Kramer US$6 million over the robocalls it said were using an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated deepfake audio recording of Biden's cloned voice. It added that its rules prohibit transmission of inaccurate caller ID information.

"When a caller sounds like a politician you know, a celebrity you like, or a family member who is familiar, any one of us could be tricked into believing something that is not true with calls using AI technology," FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said.

The FCC also proposed to fine Lingo Telecom US$2 million for allegedly transmitting the robocalls.

There is growing concern in Washington that AI-generated content could mislead voters in the November presidential and congressional elections. Some senators want to pass legislation that would address AI threats to election integrity.

"New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing," Attorney General John Formella, a Republican, said.

He hopes the state and federal actions "send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise".

A Biden campaign spokesperson said the campaign "has assembled an interdepartmental team to prepare for the potential effects of AI this election, including the threat of malicious deep fakes". The team has been in place since September "and has a wide variety of tools... to address issues".

On May 22, Rosenworcel proposed requiring disclosure of content generated by AI in political advertisements on radio and TV, but not to prohibit any AI-generated content.

The FCC said the use of AI is expected to play a substantial role in 2024 political advertisements. The FCC singled out the potential for misleading "deep fakes" which are "altered images, videos, or audio recordings that depict people doing or saying things that did not actually do or say, or events that did not actually occur". 

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