The Prosecutor General of New Gampshir, John Formell, announced a criminal investigation against Texas, which is likely to be responsible for thousands of artificially generated calls who tried to influence the staff of the state, sometimes giving themselves for Biden President.
Formell also reported that his office had sent a letter to Life Corp, a telecommunications company, demanding that you stop breaking the laws of state concerning election interference and voter incitement.
A group of several states is also preparing for a possible civil claim against this company. The Federal Communication Commission also opposed Lingo Telecom, demanding that you immediately stop illegal automatic call traffic. It happened after the branch consortium found that the Texas company was making such calls on its network.
Formella stated that these steps are designed to prevent anyone who intends to use artificial intelligence to interfere with the electoral process in New Hepshire and other states.
"Don't try," he said. "If you do it, we will cooperate for the investigation, we will work with partners across the country to find you, and we will take any compulsory measures available to us under the law. The consequences of your actions will be serious."
According to Formella, New Gampshire sends summons to the court Life Corp, Lingo Telecom and other persons and organizations that may be related to calls.
Life Corp., its owner Walter Monk and Lingo Telecom has not yet responded to requests.
This announcement foreshadows a new challenge for government regulators, as more and more advanced artificial intelligence tools are opened new opportunities to interfere with elections around the world, creating fake audio recordings, photographs and even videos of candidates, blurring the boundaries of reality.
Automatic calls were the first test for state and federal law enforcement agencies, which mainly relied on the laws on election and protection of consumer rights, adopted before generative tools of artificial intelligence have become widely available to the public.
The criminal investigation was announced more than two weeks ago after reporting calls appeared, emphasizing the difficulties for state and federal law enforcement agencies in rapid response to potential election interference.
"When the rates are so high, we have no hours and weeks," said Hani Farid, Professor of the University of California in Berkel, who studies digital propaganda and misinformation. "The reality is that the harm will be done."
In early January, between 5,000 and 20,000 people received phone calls generated by artificial intelligence that they issued Biden and called for them not to vote on primaries in the state. The call to the voters said, "It is important to keep your voice for the election in November." According to Formella, it is still unclear how many people could not vote on the basis of these calls.
A day after the calls, Formellah's office announced an investigation into this issue. "These messages seem to be an illegal attempt to undermine the primary presidential election in New Hepshire and suppress New Hepshire voters," he said in a statement. "New Gampshire voters must completely ignore the content of these messages."
