In a recent announcement, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella revealed that a robocall campaign utilizing an AI voice resembling President Joe Biden's voice has been traced back to two Texas-based telecommunications companies. The calls, which urged voters in New Hampshire not to participate in the state's presidential primary, have raised concerns over election interference and disinformation.

The investigation led by Attorney General Formella identified Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom as the businesses responsible for the robocalls. Walter Monk, the owner of Life Corporation, was named as the source of the calls. However, Formella pointed out that the ongoing investigation involves additional entities besides these two companies. The exact parties behind the disinformation campaign and the creation of the AI audio remain undisclosed, and no charges have been filed thus far.

To address the violation of New Hampshire election laws, a cease-and-desist letter has been issued to Life Corporation. Furthermore, a criminal investigation is underway, and document preservation notices and subpoenas are being sent to Life Corporation, Lingo Telecom, and any other relevant individuals or entities involved.

The robocalls, made before New Hampshire's presidential primary in January, urged voters to hold onto their votes for the November election, claiming that participating in the primary would favor Republicans. The digitally altered Biden voice in the call labeled this assertion as "malarkey" and emphasized the importance of voting for Democrats in the upcoming general election.

New Hampshire's Attorney General described this case as a real-life example of an attempt to use artificial intelligence (AI) to interfere with an election, an issue that law enforcement agencies have been concerned about for some time. He also mentioned that there are other entities with potentially relevant information regarding the robocalls, but refrained from providing specific details.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden's campaign manager, lauded the Attorney General for taking swift action against this disinformation campaign aimed at undermining democratic elections and suppressing voting.

Analyzing the fake audio, security company Pindrop and digital forensic experts at the University of California, Berkeley independently confirmed that an AI voice creation tool called ElevenLabs was employed in its production. ElevenLabs, while committed to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools, declined to provide a comment specifically on the Biden deepfake call.

It is worth mentioning that Walter Monk, the owner of Life Corporation, has previously faced issues with US robocall regulations, as observed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Lingo Telecom and highlighted previous warnings to both Lingo and Life Corporation for potential illegal robocall infractions. Monk's past offenses include delivering unsolicited advertisements to residential telephone lines and non-compliance with required information in prerecorded calls.

Monk, described as a serial entrepreneur, has had several failed business ventures in the past. It was also discovered that his company, Voice Broadcasting, has been hired to send political robocalls and boasts the ability to deliver millions of calls per day on behalf of clients.

As the investigation continues, senior US law enforcement officials are closely monitoring the incident to determine if any federal crimes were committed. The US Department of Justice has previously prosecuted cases involving the suppression of votes through spreading false information, further emphasizing the importance of combating such attempts to undermine democratic processes.

In this evolving situation, the focus remains on unraveling the full extent of the robocall campaign, identifying all involved entities and individuals, and ensuring the integrity of future elections by combating disinformation and election interference.