ElevenLabs—ElevenLabs voice cloning used in fake-Biden robocall suppressing New Hampshire Democratic primary turnout
On January 21-22, 2024, voters in the New Hampshire Democratic primary received robocalls using an AI-cloned voice of President Joe Biden telling them not to vote in the primary. Investigators at Pindrop and others traced the synthetic audio to ElevenLabs' voice-cloning system. ElevenLabs banned the account responsible and the FCC subsequently ruled AI-generated robocalls illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The political consultant who commissioned the calls was indicted and fined $6M by the FCC.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Safety | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Democratic Institutions | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Misinformation | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.429 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Pindrop and Bloomberg traced fake-Biden New Hampshire robocall to ElevenLabs voice cloning
Bloomberg reported voice-fingerprinting firm Pindrop's analysis linking the January 21-22, 2024 New Hampshire fake-Biden robocall to ElevenLabs' AI voice-cloning system. ElevenLabs banned the responsible account; the FCC subsequently issued a $6M fine to the consultant who commissioned the calls and ruled AI-generated robocalls illegal under the TCPA.