Yes, a business can use an AI voice to call customers under FCC rules. The FCC ruled in February 2024 that AI-generated voices are artificial voices under the TCPA. Outbound AI voice calls need consent, and the call must name the business.
This guide covers the phone law itself, including what is in force today and what is still a proposal. Our guide to what an AI agent does for your business covers AI agents. Our guide to chatbot or AI agent covers the choice between a chatbot and an AI agent.
What the FCC's 2024 ruling means for businesses
The FCC's Declaratory Ruling was adopted February 2, 2024 and released February 8, 2024. It confirmed that the TCPA's limits on an "artificial or prerecorded voice" cover "current AI technologies that generate human voices." The agency said cloned voices count as artificial because "a person is not speaking them." The TCPA has no carve-out for technology that claims to be the equivalent of a live agent.
This means a business needs the called person's prior express consent before placing an AI voice call, unless an emergency purpose or exemption applies. If the call advertises something or counts as telemarketing, the rule requires prior express written consent instead of the standard consent.
What an AI voice call must include
Every artificial or prerecorded voice message must open with the business's registered name. It must also give a callback phone number during or after the message, according to the eCFR. Telemarketing messages of this kind must also offer an automated, interactive opt-out during the call itself.
A person who no longer wants these calls can revoke consent "by using any reasonable method." A business must honor that request within a reasonable time, which the rule caps at "ten business days."
What a business should do before calling
Before placing any outbound AI voice call, a business should check that it holds the consent its rule requires for that call type. It should keep a record of that consent. Every AI voice call should open with the business's registered name and a callback number.
On marketing calls, a business should include the automated opt-out the rule requires. It should also stop calling anyone who revokes consent within ten business days at the latest. It should watch the related FCC docket for any final disclosure rule.
What businesses risk if they ignore these rules
The TCPA lets a person sue over a violation, according to the Legal Information Institute's text of 47 U.S. Code Section 227. A court can award actual loss or $500 per violation, whichever amount is greater. If the violation was willful or knowing, a court may triple that amount.
What the FCC has proposed, but not adopted
In a separate proposal, the FCC considered going further than its 2024 ruling. FCC 24-84 was adopted August 7, 2024 and released August 8, 2024. It proposed defining an "AI-generated call" and requiring callers to disclose AI use "at the beginning of each call." The Federal Register published this proposal on September 10, 2024.
That proposal has not become a rule. No final rule in the related docket appears in the Federal Register as of October 13, 2026. In the same proposal, the FCC wrote that TCPA requirements "do not extend to technologies used to answer inbound calls."
How the consent rules have shifted since 2024
The FCC's one-to-one consent rule, adopted in December 2023, never took effect. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated it on January 24, 2025, in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC. An FCC order, DA 25-621, dated July 14, 2025, restored the earlier written-consent definition.
A separate case is about how courts read the TCPA. In McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp., decided June 20, 2025, the US Supreme Court held that district courts are not bound by the FCC's reading of the TCPA in enforcement cases. Courts decide the law's meaning "while affording appropriate respect" to the agency.
Frequently asked questions
Does an AI voice count as a robocall?
Yes. The FCC says AI-generated voices are "artificial" voices under the TCPA. That means the same consent and disclosure rules that cover prerecorded calls also cover AI voice calls.
Do I have to tell callers the call uses AI?
The FCC proposed this disclosure requirement in 2024, but it has not adopted a final rule. The business-name and callback-number requirement already applies to every AI voice call regardless.
Does the TCPA cover an AI that answers my phone?
The FCC wrote that its TCPA requirements "do not extend to technologies used to answer inbound calls." That statement applies to the TCPA specifically.
What consent do marketing calls with an AI voice need?
They need prior express written consent from the person being called.
How fast must a business stop calling after someone says stop?
A business must honor a revocation within a reasonable time. The rule sets that limit at no more than ten business days after the request.
A business can use an AI voice to call customers, but only with the consent the FCC's rules require, and only after naming the business on the call. See our AI systems and agents page.
