Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

2 Texas firms said behind N.H. AI robocalls

- HOLLY RAMER AND ALI SWENSON Informatio­n for this article was contribute­d by Rhonda Schafner and Jamie Stengle of The Associated Press.

CONCORD, N.H. — 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-thenation primary last month.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said investigat­ors have identified the source of the calls as Life Corporatio­n and said they were transmitte­d by a company called Lingo Telecom. New Hampshire issued cease-and-desist orders and subpoenas to both companies, while the Federal Communicat­ions Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to the telecommun­ications company, Formella said. In a statement, the FCC said it was trying to stop “behavior that violates voter suppressio­n laws.”

During a news conference to discuss the investigat­ion, Formella described the calls as the clearest and possibly first known attempt to use AI to interfere with an election in the U.S. He noted that the calls went well beyond the political fliers that have landed in voters’ mailboxes during past elections.

“Calls using AI with something as deceptive as trying to clone the voice of the president of the United States, we haven’t seen something like that before so close to an election with such a blatant attempt to mislead voters,” Formella said. “We don’t want it to be the first of many. We want this to be an example for us to point to, but also an enforcemen­t example for anyone out there who would consider doing this.”

No one answered the door at the offices of Life Corporatio­n, in a strip mall in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon. Phone messages and emails left for Life Corporatio­n’s owner, Walter Monk, were not returned.

Lingo Telecom said in an emailed statement that it “acted immediatel­y” to help the task force of state attorneys general with their investigat­ion.

“On the same day we were contacted by the Task Force, we quickly identified and suspended the involved account, and will continue to cooperate with federal and state investigat­ors to bring a resolution to this matter,” the statement read. “Lingo remains committed to upholding the highest standards of customer care in compliance with all its regulatory obligation­s.”

The recorded message was sent to between 5,000 and 25,000 voters two days before the Jan. 23 primary. It used a voice similar to Biden’s, employed his often-used phrase, “What a bunch of malarkey” and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting a ballot in November’s general election.

Biden won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate after he kept his name off the ballot in deference to South Carolina’s new lead-off position for the Democratic primaries.

The calls falsely showed up to recipients as coming from the personal cellphone number of Kathy Sullivan, a former state Democratic Party chair who helps run Granite for America, a super PAC that supported the Biden write-in campaign. Formella said at least 10 people who received the calls then called Sullivan.

Sullivan praised investigat­ors Monday for their speed and effort.

“Anyone who tries to suppress the vote in a democracy is a disgrace,” she said in an email.

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.

Biden’s campaign praised the investigat­ion into the calls.

“Disinforma­tion aimed at suppressin­g voting and deliberate­ly underminin­g free and fair elections is an unacceptab­le threat, and we commend the New Hampshire attorney general for taking the matter seriously and moving swiftly as a powerful example against further efforts to disrupt democratic elections,” campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said.

The FCC’s cease-and-desist letter to Lingo Telecom said the investigat­ion involved working with the Industry Traceback Group, a consortium of telecom and broadband industry service providers that can trace calls to their source, even if they have been “spoofed” to make it look like they came from someone else.

The letter said once Lingo Telecom was identified as the original provider for the calls, the company identified Life Corporatio­n as the party who initiated them. According to New Hampshire authoritie­s, Lingo Telecom also suspended services to Life Corporatio­n after learning of the investigat­ion.

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