House Administration Committee ranking member Joseph Morelle, a New York Democrat, asked the Department of Justice to "immediately" launch an investigation into robocalls generated by AI featuring President Joe Biden's voice urging New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in Tuesday's primary.
The robocalls said that "voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday."
However, a spokesperson for Biden's New Hampshire write-in campaign told Axios that the calls were "deep fake disinformation designed to harm Joe Biden, suppress votes, and damage our democracy."
The New Hampshire state attorney general's office is probing the matter, NBC News reported.
In the letter sent Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Morelle wrote: "This clear bid to interfere in the New Hampshire primary demands a thorough investigation and a forceful response from federal officials to deter further AI-based attacks that will disrupt American democracy and disenfranchise American voters."
Morelle's letter comes as congressmen in both political parties are working rapidly in an attempt to agree on regulations to minimize the harmful effects of AI development at the same time the government is trying to keep pace with and regulate rapidly advancing AI technology, especially in advertising and the spread of information.
Morelle stressed in his letter that "if Congress can strengthen law enforcement's ability to detect and prevent AI-based attempts to subvert our elections, we look forward to working with you to identify and achieve any meaningful and well-defined standards to protect our democracy."