CDT Urges FCC to Reject Petition Allowing AI Political Robocalls Without Consent

What the petition would change

The petition asks the FCC to exempt noncommercial political calls to wireless numbers from the prior express consent requirement of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The exemption would apply when those calls use an artificial or prerecorded voice, including AI-generated voice.

According to CDT, the petition would replace consent with a set of limits. Callers could make up to three AI-generated political calls to a given cellphone per 30-day period. After a recipient asks them to stop, callers would have 10 days to cease calling.

CDT's objections

CDT says the TCPA's prior consent requirement remains one of the most effective tools federal law offers against unwanted and nuisance telemarketing. Removing it for political robocalls, particularly on a subject as sensitive as voting, would in the group's view expose voters to false or misleading information about candidates. It would also leave them open to what CDT calls a deluge of AI-generated phone outreach in the days leading up to the midterms.

The organization argues that waiving the requirement would strip voters of crucial protections at the moment harms are most acute. It also says the TCPA was created to shield people from harmful, invasive and manipulative telecommunications tactics, and that dropping the rule so close to an election creates an environment conducive to the very harms the law and the FCC are meant to guard against.

A timing problem

CDT also points to the calendar. The comment period closes with only 10 business days left before Election Day. In the group's assessment, that makes the safeguards proposed in the petition useless, since a 10-day window to stop calling would stretch across nearly the entire remaining campaign period.

What it means for voters

The filing adds to CDT's recent work on AI and elections, which includes a piece on political campaign use of AI-powered voter outreach and regulatory gaps, and another on anticipated election misinformation in the 2026 midterms. The decision now rests with the FCC. If the petition were granted, according to CDT's argument, voters could receive AI-voiced political calls on their cellphones without having agreed to them, with only the limited opt-out mechanism described in the petition.