Definition
A robocall is a call that delivers a prerecorded or artificial voice message, a category the TCPA regulates through consent, identification, and opt-out rules, and one that since February 2024 includes calls made with AI-generated voices.
The TCPA prohibits calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice to a wireless number without the called party's prior express consent, unless the call is for emergency purposes or falls under an FCC exemption, and FCC rules require prior express written consent for prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential lines. Prerecorded messages must also identify the calling entity at the start of the call and provide a telephone number, and prerecorded telemarketing calls must offer an automated opt-out.
In February 2024 the FCC issued a declaratory ruling that AI-generated voices, including voice cloning, are "artificial" voices under the TCPA. An AI voice agent placing outbound calls therefore makes robocalls in the legal sense, however conversational it sounds. This prong of the statute does not depend on how the number was dialed, so the Supreme Court's 2021 narrowing of the autodialer definition does not take an artificial-voice call outside the rules.
"Robocall" is also used loosely for any unwanted automated call, which is part of why legitimate healthcare calls are scored, labeled, and blocked by the same carrier systems built to stop illegal ones. See "Spam Likely" call labeling and STIR/SHAKEN.
How Consig handles it
Because an AI voice is treated as an artificial voice, Consig's compliance engine enforces the relevant federal and state calling rules on each call, and steps such as disclosures and opt-outs run as deterministic stages. For a side-by-side with prerecorded dialers, see Consig vs. IVR and robocall dialers.