Authorities issued cease-and-desist orders Tuesday against two Texas companies they believe were connected to robocalls that used artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice and discourage people from voting in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary last month.
As many as 25,000 Democratic voters in New Hampshire got a robocall urging them to stay home on primary day.
The voice on the call was not that of President Biden. It was an AI-generated deepfake, and New Hampshire Attorney General John Fornella says they have traced back those calls to a North Texas company called Life Corporation, and said they were transmitted by a company called Lingo Telecom.
Life Corporation's office is in a nondescript strip mall on South Cooper Street in Arlington, and it has at least 20 aliases, including TextToSurvey, the name that appears above the storefront.
New Hampshire AG Fornella says he has issued a cease and desist letter to Life Corporation's owner Walter Monk. Monk now faces potential civil and criminal penalties.
It turns out this isn't the first time Walter Monk has gotten himself in trouble. In 2003 he was cited by the FCC for violating rules governing telephone solicitation.
KRLD News reached out to Monk for comment and left him a voicemail message; so far, he has not returned our call.
Lingo Telecom said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press that it “acted immediately" to help the task force of state attorneys general with their investigation.
The apparent attempt at voter suppression using rapidly advancing generative AI technology is one example of what experts warn will make 2024 a year of unprecedented election disinformation around the world.
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