FCC moves to make AI-voiced robocalls illegal

[The Morning After]( It's Friday, February 02, 2024. AI-generated voices mimicking celebrities and politicians are making it harder for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fight robocalls. FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel wants the commission to recognize calls that use AI-generated voices as artificial, making the use of voice cloning technologies in robocalls [illegal](. Under the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), artificial voice or recording calls to residences are against the law. If AI-generated voice calls are recognized as illegal under the existing law, it’ll give state attorneys general offices nationwide “new tools” to crack down on scammers. The FCC’s proposal comes shortly after some New Hampshire residents received a call impersonating President Joe Biden, telling them not to vote in their state’s primary. A security firm performed a thorough analysis of the call and determined it was created using AI tools by a startup called ElevenLabs. The company subsequently banned the account responsible for the message. — Mat Smith ​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. [Subscribe right here!]( ​​ The biggest stories you might have missed [Snap is recalling its Pixy drone after battery fire]( [Google reveals another text-to-image generative AI tool, ImageFX]( [Niantic is bringing an AR skateboarding game to Apple Vision Pro]( [Meta Quest headsets get spatial video playback, just in time for the Apple Vision Pro launch]( [Hulu is the latest streaming service to crack down on password sharing]( [Elgato introduces its first-ever HDMI 2.1 capture cards]( [Comcast agrees to kill misleading 10G branding]( Because Comcast’s internet isn’t that much faster than rivals. Comcast is discontinuing its Xfinity 10G Network branding to describe its internet service after a National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel found the term could mislead consumers into thinking that Comcast’s cellular and broadband services would offer much faster speeds than current-generation networks. [Continue reading.]( [Google tests generative AI tools in Maps]( Bots to help you get there. Google is adding generative AI to Maps. The feature’s in early access and only available in certain areas and for select Local Guides members. It allows you to speak to the app using natural language to discover new places. Ask the app what you’re looking for, like a specific kind of restaurant, and the company’s large-language models will analyze information from all of its listings, along with insights from community members. The recommendation engine will also recall what you’ve asked in the past, hopefully honing future suggestions. [Continue reading.]( [Taylor Swift and other Universal Music tracks are disappearing from TikTok]( The company made good on its promise following a breakdown in negotiations. [TMA] Evan Agostini After threatening to do so earlier this week, Universal Music Group (UMG) is pulling the catalogs of performers it represents, including Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and others. There are no longer tracks listed in the profiles of some of the world’s most notable artists, and any UMG music featured in TikTok videos will be muted going forward. Universal had previously said TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media sites. [Continue reading.]( [Meta’s Reality Labs had its best quarter ever, making a $4 billion loss]( You read that right. [TMA] JOSH EDELSON via Getty Images This is the perfect picture for this story. Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023, thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The division, however, still lost $4.6 billion in the quarter and more than $16 billion in 2023.[Legs are expensive](. [Continue reading.]( The Morning After is a daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't [subscribe](. Craving even more? [Like us on Facebook]( or [follow us on Twitter](. Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? [Send us a note.]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you opted in at [engadget.com](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe from this newsletter.]( Copyright © 2024 Yahoo. All rights reserved.