AG identifies two Texas firms, CEO as behind AI robocalls targeting NH Democrats
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Feb. 6—CONCORD — State and federal authorities sent cease-and-desist letters to two Texas companies and a CEO involved in placing "thousands" of automated robocalls that used an AI-generated copy of President Joe Biden's voice to urge New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in the presidential primary, Attorney General John Formella announced.
Life Corporation of Arlington, Texas, and its owner, Walter Monk, arranged for the calls to go to between 5,000 and 25,000 Democrats on Jan. 21, two days before the vote, Formella said.
"It is important that you save your vote for the November election," said the Biden voice, which was created using artificial intelligence.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a separate cease-and-desist order to Lingo Telecom of Dallas, Texas, which placed the calls at Life Corporation's direction, Formella said.
After state officials investigating these calls contacted Lingo Telecom, the firm severed its ties with Life Corp., Formella said.
Formella said a criminal investigation has been launched, but it's too early to know whether another entity paid for the calls or what the motivation was behind the effort to suppress the Jan. 23 vote.
"This is the beginning of the investigation, not the end," Formella said.
The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which includes the 50 state attorneys general, assisted with the probe of this scheme, which Formella called "unique" for its level of sophistication.
"That's a level of deception we have not seen before," Formella said, referring to the replication of Biden's voice.
A conviction for violation of the state's voter suppression law is a Class B felony punishable by up to a seven-year prison term.
Formella said the FCC is opening a civil investigation into whether the calls violate a federal anti-robocall law. The AG task force has started its own civil probe.
"We want to send a strong message of deterrence to any person or entity that would seek to undermine our elections through AI or any other means," Formella said.
"We are committed to keeping our elections free, fair and secure."
Biden-Harris Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez praised Formella's quick action.
"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," Rodriguez said in a statement.
Formella said he would "not be surprised" if the investigation reveals involvement by other parties.
The state's elections unit is investigating — but has not confirmed — media reports that the technology used to simulate Biden's voice came from AI startup ElevenLabs, Formella said.
The calls advised those who wanted to opt out of future calls to contact a number that belonged to the personal cellphone of former Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan, a leader in the campaign to write in Biden's name on the primary ballot.
In that race, 64% of primary voters wrote in Biden, a modern-day record for someone not on the first-in-the-nation primary ballot.
Biden chose not to be on the ballot after engineering a Democratic National Committee calendar that made South Carolina the first sanctioned primary.
On Saturday, Biden got more than 95% of the South Carolina primary vote. Only 4% of all registered voters cast ballots there.
In New Hampshire, 14.3% of all registered voters took a Democratic primary ballot, and 36.9% voted in the Republican primary won by former President Donald Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
