AI Political Robocalls Without Consent? FCC Commissioner Gomez Takes a Strong Position

That's the issue now before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

So what happened?

On October 8, 2026, FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez put out a statement slamming a petition from Club for Growth, a group she called a "dark money group." The petition asks the FCC to let political groups send AI-generated robocalls to Americans' cell phones without their consent.

Here's what the petition asks for, according to her office:

• A waiver of the FCC's rules and an exemption from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
• The goal: allow noncommercial political calls to wireless numbers to use an artificial or prerecorded voice, including an AI-generated voice, without the prior express consent of the person being called.

The FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has asked for public comment. Reply comments are due October 19, which her office points out is just 15 days before Election Day.

What did Gomez say?

She didn't hold back.

"The FCC should not allow a dark money group to flood Americans' phones with AI-generated robocalls they never agreed to receive," she said. She also warned against changing the rules "at the 11th hour to unleash a deluge of political AI slop on their phones."

"AI slop." From a sitting FCC commissioner. Hell yes, that's a quote.

Wait, can't political groups already use AI voices?

Yes, but only with consent. Here's the thing ... according to Gomez's office, political groups can already use AI-generated voices in robocalls today, as long as they get the consent of the person receiving the call. The petition would remove that one safeguard.

And there's a legal wrinkle. Some of these protections are written into the statute itself. Her office says the FCC can't waive a statute, though it can grant exemptions. Past exemptions, for things like delivery calls, certain calls from financial institutions and health care callers, were targeted and came with conditions.

The AI voice backstory

This isn't theoretical. Gomez's office points to January 2024, when thousands of New Hampshire voters got a call before the Democratic presidential primary using an AI-generated imitation of President Biden's voice. The call falsely suggested that voting in the primary would keep them from voting in November.

What followed, per the statement:

• A $1 million settlement with Lingo Telecom, the provider that carried the calls.
• A $6 million fine against the consultant who orchestrated them.
• A unanimous FCC vote in February 2024 confirming that AI-generated voice calls fall under the TCPA and are unlawful without consent, because an AI-cloned human voice is artificial by definition.

Her office also notes that reversing that interpretation would take a vote of the full Commission.

Why should you care?

Look, maybe you don't make political calls. Most folks reading this probably don't. But this matters to you anyway.

First, it's about consent. The whole TCPA world runs on one question: did the person say yes? Any exemption that chips away at that for one group of callers gets cited by the next group. Am I right?

Second, it's about the channel. Every flood of unwanted calls trains consumers to ignore their phones. If AI political calls hit cell phones by the millions in the weeks before an election, your legitimate calls get buried with them. Answer rates drop. Costs go up. It's all just simple math.

Third, AI voices are under a microscope. Regulators have already said an AI voice is an artificial voice. If you use AI agents or voice cloning in your outbound campaigns, you need consent that covers it. No exceptions.

What to do about it

• Don't assume the rules have changed. It's a petition, not a rule. Right now, AI voice calls to cell phones still need consent.
• Audit your AI voice use. If your dialer, IVR or "virtual agent" sounds human but isn't, treat it as an artificial voice under the TCPA.
• Check your consent language. Make sure it clearly covers prerecorded and artificial voice calls.
• Watch the docket. If you have a stake, the comment process is how you get heard.

I'm not going to tell you how to vote. But I will tell you this: consent is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy. Keep buying it, OK?

You can read the Commissioner Gomez statement on AI political robocalls or the FCC page for the statement.