The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus on Monday urged the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission to reject a petition by a right-wing group to allow unsolicited, artificial intelligence-generated robocalls ahead of next month’s midterm elections.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned that granting Club for Growth’s request would mean “unleashing a Pandora’s box of election mis- and disinformation made more believable with AI.” Monday is the final day for public comment on the group’s petition.

“The FCC MUST reject the request made by a Republican group that would allow political groups to make robocalls to cellphones without people’s permission,” Schumer wrote in a social media post. “Putting Americans in a position where they can be fed misinformation through AI-generated deception ahead of a crucial election is yet another attempt by Republicans to mislead voters.”

“The risk here is severe,” Schumer added. “The approaching election is a reason to preserve safeguards, not suspend them.”

Club for Growth—a conservative nonprofit that pushes for tax cuts, deregulation, and school privatization—petitioned the FCC in August for an exemption from federal rules to permit “political calls that utilize artificial intelligence” without prior express consent. The group argued that existing regulations barring such calls “chill important political speech, creating serious First Amendment problems.”

Leading consumer advocacy groups countered in a submission to the FCC earlier this month that “political robocalls are deeply invasive of privacy and removing the prior express consent requirement is wholly inconsistent with the public interest and the objectives of the [Telephone Consumer Protection Act].”

“Political robocalls are widely regarded as an annoyance and cause visceral anger among many, in addition to being a vehicle for spreading AI-generated misinformation and delusions,” the groups wrote. “Furthermore, the prohibition on automated calls to cellphones without prior express consent is one of the few protections in the TCPA that applies to small businesses that rely on cell phones to operate. Many small businesses must answer every incoming call to avoid missing a potential customer, and granting the waiver petition will result in more unwanted calls that waste small businesses’ time and money.”

Schumer told Reuters on Monday that “there is absolutely no excuse to relax” the TCPA standards and “allow special interests to flood our cellphone lines with deepfakes or dark-money-funded AI voices” just two weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, said in a CNN appearance on Monday that “no consumer wants” robocalls and that they are the top complaint the agency hears from the public.

“This dark money group wants permission from the FCC to flood cellphones with these ads generated using artificial intelligence,” said Gomez, adding that the agency’s Republican commissioners “should not do this.”

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