Two federal agencies now regulate AI calling in the United States, and they approach it differently. The Federal Communications Commission controls the channel itself, meaning the phone call. The Federal Trade Commission controls the sales relationship, meaning what you say and who you say it to. Both have acted in the past two years and created obligations that apply to any company running AI-powered outbound calls.
Most compliance guides published in 2024 are already incomplete. The regulatory picture shifted in 2025 and again in 2026. This FTC and FCC AI calling rules guide covers what is actually in effect now, what is still proposed, and what your operation needs to do before the next call goes out.
Summary – The FTC and FCC AI Calling Rules
- The FCC ruled in February 2024 that AI-generated voices are “artificial voices” under the TCPA. This is current law. Prior express consent is required before any AI-generated voice call to a cell phone.
- The FCC proposed mandatory AI disclosure requirements in August 2024 (callers must say “this call uses AI” at the start). This rule is not yet final as of July 2026.
- The FTC updated its Telemarketing Sales Rule in March 2024, extended its prohibition on misrepresentation to B2B telemarketing calls, and confirmed that voice cloning technology is prohibited under existing TSR robocall rules. This is current law.
- Recordkeeping requirements under the updated TSR now require five years of call records, up from two.
- Several states, including Texas, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado, have enacted or strengthened AI calling and telemarketing rules that apply on top of federal law.
- Penalties under TCPA run $500 to $1,500 per violation with no statutory cap. A 10,000-call campaign without proper consent can produce $5 million to $15 million in exposure.
Why Two Agencies and What Each Controls
The FCC and FTC regulate different parts of the same activity.
The FCC’s authority flows from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a 1991 law that governs how the phone network can be used for automated outreach. The TCPA restricts automatic telephone dialing systems and the use of artificial or prerecorded voices to call cell phones. The FCC interprets and enforces the TCPA, and it has the power to issue declaratory rulings that clarify how existing law applies to new technology.
The FTC’s authority flows from the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), a regulatory framework that governs what telemarketers can say and do in sales calls. The TSR covers disclosure requirements, prohibited practices, the Do Not Call Registry, and recordkeeping. The FTC enforces the TSR and can bring civil actions and seek civil penalties.
The two frameworks overlap in practice. A company running AI-powered outbound sales calls must comply with both the TCPA’s consent requirements for how the call is made and the TSR’s conduct requirements for what happens during the call. Understanding which agency’s rules apply to which part of the operation is the starting point for building a compliant calling program.
The FCC’s February 2024 Ruling: Current Law
On February 8, 2024, the FCC adopted a Declaratory Ruling (FCC 24-17) that resolved a legal question the industry had been arguing about for years.
The question was whether calls made with AI-generated voices required the same consent as traditional robocalls. Some operators argued that real-time conversational AI was different from prerecorded messages and therefore fell outside TCPA’s restrictions on “artificial or prerecorded voice.” The FCC rejected that argument unanimously.
The ruling stated that AI technologies that generate human voices, such as voice cloning, large-language-model-driven voice agents, and real-time conversational AI, are considered an “artificial voice” under the TCPA. The statute “does not allow for any carve-out of technologies that purport to provide the equivalent of a live agent.” The classification applies regardless of whether the voice is generated in real time or from a prerecorded model.
What this means in practice:
Any outbound call where an AI generates the voice is subject to the same consent requirements as a traditional robocall to a cell phone. Prior express consent is required for informational calls. Prior express written consent is required for marketing calls. The written consent must be clear, voluntary, and specifically authorize automated calling, and it must be documented and retrievable.
Established business relationships do not exempt AI voice calls from these requirements. If you have done business with a customer before but do not have documented prior express written consent for AI-generated marketing calls, you cannot use AI to call their cell phone for marketing purposes.
The ruling also gives the FCC authority to fine violators and to require telephone companies to block AI calls from bad actors on their networks. Victims retain the right to seek monetary damages under the TCPA directly.
The full text of the ruling is publicly available at docs.fcc.gov.
The FCC’s August 2024 Proposal: Not Yet Final
On August 7, 2024, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing additional AI-specific requirements on top of the February ruling. These are proposals, not law. As of July 2026, they have not been finalized.
The proposed rules would require:
- Upfront AI disclosure. Callers would be required to clearly state at the start of every call that AI technology is being used to generate the voice. The disclosure would need to be conspicuous, not buried in a script midpoint.
- Consent language that references AI specifically. When collecting prior express written consent, the consent form would be required to explicitly state that the person agrees to receive AI-generated calls and text messages. General marketing consent language would not be sufficient.
- Opt-out mechanism within two seconds. An automated opt-out mechanism, accessible by voice command or keypress, would be required within two seconds of the initial message.
- The current status: Under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who took the position in January 2025, the agency has signaled a lighter regulatory posture. The FCC has separately proposed eliminating or streamlining some existing TCPA and DNC rules. Whether the August 2024 AI disclosure NPRM is finalized, modified, or allowed to lapse under the current administration is not yet determined.
Compliance teams should track this closely. If finalized in any form, the disclosure and consent requirements would create new obligations for every company running AI outbound calling.
The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule Updates: Current Law
The FTC moved on AI calling through a different mechanism. On March 7, 2024, the FTC finalized amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that took effect in April 2024. Two of those changes apply directly to companies using AI voice technology.
Voice cloning classified as prohibited robocall technology.
The FTC confirmed that the TSR’s existing prohibition on illegal robocalls covers voice cloning technology. The rule specifically addresses “any entity that provides digital soundboard technology” used to mimic or clone individual voices in outbound calls. Companies that use a platform, service, or tool that clones a voice to deliver calls fall within the TSR’s robocall prohibitions.
Under the TSR, a robocall to a number on the Do Not Call Registry is a violation. A robocall delivering a false or misleading message is a violation. The classification of voice cloning as robocall technology brings it fully within these prohibitions.
B2B telemarketing is now subject to misrepresentation rules.
The TSR previously excluded business-to-business telemarketing from most of its requirements. The 2024 amendment narrows that exclusion. The TSR now prohibits deceptive statements and material misrepresentations in B2B telemarketing calls. Companies making AI-powered outbound calls to business contacts cannot make unsupported claims about their product’s performance, pricing, ROI, or capabilities.
This matters because many AI calling operations target small business owners using cell phones. The B2B exemption was sometimes cited as a reason standard TSR protections did not apply. That argument is now weaker, and practitioners should not rely on the B2B exemption to justify calls that would otherwise violate the TSR.
Recordkeeping requirements extended to five years.
The updated TSR requires telemarketers to maintain detailed call records for five years, up from the previous two-year requirement. Required records include:
- Call details including numbers dialed, dates, times, and call disposition
- Customer information and purchase history
- Proof of established business relationships
- Consent records including recordings or documentation showing the purpose for which consent was provided
- National Do Not Call Registry access and compliance logs
- Contracts with service providers including any entity providing AI voice or soundboard technology
- Copies of all unique prerecorded messages used
For companies using third-party AI calling platforms, this requirement means the service provider relationship itself must be documented and retained. You cannot discard vendor contracts or AI platform configuration records after a campaign ends.
The official Federal Register publication of the TSR amendments is at federalregister.gov.
Consent Revocation: The April 2025 FCC Rule
A separate FCC rule that took effect in 2025 formalized how consumers can revoke TCPA consent. The rule requires that companies honor opt-out requests made by any reasonable method. A consumer who says “stop calling me,” replies STOP to a text, or says “remove me” during a call has effectively revoked consent under this rule, and subsequent calls or texts to that number constitute a violation.
For AI calling operations, this rule has a practical compliance implication. Your system must be able to capture opt-out signals during an AI-conducted call, log them immediately, and suppress that number from future campaigns. Opt-outs received during an AI conversation that are not processed within the same business day create exposure.
State Laws That Apply on Top of Federal Rules
Federal law sets the floor. Several states have enacted rules that are stricter.
- Texas (SB 140, effective September 1, 2025). Texas expanded its definition of telephone solicitation to include text messages and image messages. Violations are now tied to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which carries treble damages and attorney’s fees. Out-of-state sellers soliciting Texas residents are required to register with the state.
- Virginia (SB 1339, effective January 1, 2026). Virginia requires that companies honor text opt-out commands, including STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE, for a period of ten years from the date of the request. The law extends Virginia’s Telephone Privacy Protection Act to cover text message solicitations.
- Florida. Florida’s Telephone Solicitation Act imposes its own written consent requirement for automated calls and texts to Florida residents. Per-call penalties under Florida’s statute can exceed TCPA damages. Operations calling Florida numbers must treat every contact with the same documentation standard required under federal law.
- Colorado (SB 24-205, Colorado AI Act, effective June 30, 2026). Colorado’s AI Act applies to certain high-stakes decision-making contexts, including insurance, financial services, lending, employment, healthcare, housing, and education. For AI calling operations in these verticals, the Act requires a notice at the point of interaction, a follow-up notice within 30 days if an adverse outcome results from an AI interaction, and three years of record retention. The Colorado Attorney General enforces this act, and there is no private right of action.
- Recording laws. Eleven states require all-party consent for call recording. If your AI system records calls, or if your platform captures transcripts through real-time audio processing, you are subject to the recording law of the state where the called party is located, regardless of where your business is based. California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington all require two-party or all-party consent for recorded conversations.
Penalties Under Current Law
- TCPA penalties run $500 to $1,500 per call, with no statutory cap. A court can award $500 for each negligent violation and up to $1,500 for each willful or knowing violation. There is no ceiling on how high aggregate damages can go if the violations are numerous. For context, a campaign of 10,000 calls made without proper consent produces exposure of $5 million to $15 million depending on how a court characterizes the violations. Class action plaintiffs’ firms track AI calling operations specifically, and TCPA class actions have increased significantly since the FCC’s February 2024 ruling.
- TSR civil penalties can reach up to $51,744 per violation under current FTC penalty schedules. The FTC can also seek injunctive relief, which may mean shutting down an operation entirely.
- State penalties vary. Florida’s per-call penalties are high by design. Texas’s treble damages provision means a court can multiply the base award by three. Multiple states pursuing coordinated enforcement actions against a single violator can produce compounding liability.
What Compliant AI Calling Requires Right Now
Based on current federal and state law, here is the minimum compliance infrastructure a sales operation needs before running AI-powered outbound calls.
- Documented prior express written consent. Every cell phone number in your call list needs documented PWEC that specifically authorizes automated or AI-generated voice calls. The consent must be voluntary, clear in its scope, and retained with a timestamp. Consent collected before February 2024 that does not specifically reference AI-generated voices may be insufficient.
- **DNC scrubbing before every campaign launch. The National Do Not Call Registry must be checked before each campaign, not at list acquisition. State-specific DNC lists for Florida, Texas, and other states with their registries must also be checked.
- Opt-out processing within the same business day. Any opt-out signal captured during an AI call, including verbal requests to stop calling, must be logged and applied to your suppression list before another call goes out. This is not optional under the April 2025 consent revocation rule.
- AI disclosure in the call opening. Even though the FCC’s disclosure requirement is not yet final, disclosing that a call uses AI voice technology is both legally prudent and operationally sound. Calls that identify themselves as automated from the first sentence tend to have lower complaint rates from the type of prospects Bigly’s clients are typically calling.
- Five years of call records. Under the updated TSR, every call record, consent document, vendor contract, and opt-out log must be retained for five years.
- State-by-state calling window enforcement. Calling windows vary by state. Federal law allows calls from 8 AM to 9 PM in the called party’s time zone. Some states impose narrower windows. Your campaign system must enforce these restrictions at the record level, not by rough geography.
- Service provider contracts on file. If you use a third-party AI calling platform, that relationship must be documented in a written contract that is retained for five years along with your other records.
For a detailed breakdown of how compliant AI calling infrastructure works operationally, see the TCPA compliance guide for managed AI calling.
How This Landscape Is Likely to Shift
Three variables are worth watching in the second half of 2026.
- The FCC under Chairman Carr. The current FCC has proposed eliminating and streamlining several existing TCPA and DNC rules. If these proposals move forward, some compliance obligations may ease. At the same time, the AI ruling is not being reconsidered publicly. The foundational consent requirement for AI voice calls remains in effect regardless of any deregulatory direction on the TCPA’s other provisions.
- The AI disclosure NPRM. If finalized, the requirement to say “this call uses AI” at the start of every call becomes a concrete script requirement. Operations that are already disclosing AI use have no adjustment to make. Operations that are not disclosing will need to rebuild their call scripts.
- State enforcement. State attorneys general in California, Texas, Florida, and New York have been active in TCPA-adjacent enforcement. The February 2024 ruling gave state AGs explicit authority to pursue AI calling violators. Several AGs have signaled that AI calling compliance is a priority, and enforcement actions are likely to increase in the second half of 2026.
For everything you need to know about how AI cold calling actually works and how to structure a campaign around these rules, start with the complete AI cold calling guide.
FAQ
Is AI cold calling legal in 2026?
AI cold calling is legal when it is done with documented prior express written consent, proper DNC scrubbing, and compliant call timing. The FCC’s February 2024 ruling confirmed that AI-generated voices fall under TCPA, which requires consent before calling cell phones. Without that consent, AI calling cell phones is illegal under federal law.
What did the FCC rule in February 2024?
The FCC issued Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17 on February 8, 2024, determining that AI-generated voices constitute an “artificial voice” under the TCPA. The ruling covers voice cloning, large-language-model-driven conversational AI, and any technology that generates a human-sounding voice. The ruling took effect immediately and requires prior express consent for any such call to a cell phone.
Does the FTC regulate AI calling?
Yes. The FTC regulates AI calling through the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The March 2024 TSR amendments confirmed that voice cloning technology is classified as robocall technology under the TSR, extended the misrepresentation prohibition to B2B telemarketing calls, and increased required recordkeeping from two years to five years.
Do I have to say my call uses AI?
Under current law as of July 2026, no federal rule requires an explicit AI disclosure at the start of a call. The FCC proposed this requirement in August 2024, but it has not been finalized. That said, several states are moving toward disclosure requirements, and the practice is legally prudent because calls that misrepresent themselves as human may be subject to FTC action for deception.
What is the TCPA penalty for an AI calling violation?
Statutory damages under TCPA run $500 per violation for negligent violations and $1,500 per violation for willful or knowing violations. There is no cap on aggregate damages. A campaign of 10,000 calls made without proper consent creates potential exposure of $5 million to $15 million.
What records do I need to keep for AI calling compliance?
Under the updated FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule effective April 2024, call records must be retained for five years. Required records include call logs with dates, times, and dispositions, consent documentation, DNC registry access logs, opt-out records, and written contracts with AI calling platform providers.
Are there state AI calling laws I need to follow?
Yes. Florida, Texas, Virginia, and Colorado have enacted laws that go beyond federal requirements. Texas SB 140 (effective September 2025) extended telemarketing rules to texts and tied violations to treble damages. Virginia SB 1339 (effective January 2026) requires honoring opt-out commands for ten years. Florida’s mini-TCPA has per-call penalties that can exceed federal TCPA damages. Colorado’s AI Act applies to AI use in insurance, lending, healthcare, and several other regulated verticals, with specific notice and recordkeeping requirements.
What is the difference between the FCC’s rules and the FTC’s rules for AI calling?
The FCC’s rules under TCPA govern the mechanics of the call: consent requirements for using automated or AI-generated voices to call cell phones. The FTC’s rules under the TSR govern the conduct of the call: what you can say, recordkeeping obligations, DNC Registry compliance, and prohibited practices. A compliant AI calling operation must satisfy both frameworks simultaneously.
Does the B2B exemption protect AI calling to business owners?
Partially and with significant caution. The TSR’s B2B exemption was narrowed in 2024. B2B calls are now subject to the TSR’s misrepresentation prohibitions. Additionally, most small business owners use personal cell phones, which means TCPA’s consent requirements apply to those numbers regardless of whether the call is framed as a business solicitation.
Legal disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Regulatory requirements change frequently. Consult qualified legal counsel before making compliance decisions about your outbound calling program.
If your outbound team is grinding through low connect rates and burning through reps, Bigly Sales gives you a better way. Our AI voice agents qualify your leads, book appointments, and hand off warm prospects to your closers so your team spends every hour on real selling.
Compliance works best when it is built into the platform. See how the Bigly Sales AI calling features handle consent, disclosures, and opt-outs automatically.
See what Bigly Sales can do for your pipeline at biglysales.com.
About Bigly Sales
Bigly Sales is an AI-powered outbound calling platform designed for sales teams that need to move faster, stay TCPA compliant, and scale without adding headcount. From insurance and mortgage to debt relief and solar, Bigly Sales helps high-velocity teams automate prospecting, qualify leads, and book more meetings with AI voice agents. Learn more at biglysales.com.
Photo by Markus Winkler
