Arlington man under investigation over fake AI-generated Biden robocalls, officials say

A North Texas man is allegedly behind the artificial intelligence robocalls pretending to be President Joe Biden during the New Hampshire Primary last month according to the state's attorney general.

Republican Attorney General John Formell said at a Tuesday press conference he is coordinating the state and federal law enforcement to open a civil and criminal investigation into Walter Monk. It opens up a series of complicated questions about the future of politics. But first, Formell said, it breaks the law.

“In this case, we’re releasing the information we’re releasing today because we want to make clear to anyone that would try this, we can find you and we will," said Formella.

Days before the New Hampshire Primary in late January, between 5,000 and 25,000 voters received a phone call from Joe Biden's automated voice.

“Voting on Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again," the recording states according to NBC News.

The call asked voters to "save" their vote for the general election in November, trying to convince voters they could only vote once and if they voted in the primary, they would lose their vote later in the year. That is not true. The New Hampshire AG said the call violated state election laws for misleading voters and federal telecommunication regulations against false advertisements and illegal robocalls.

At the Concord news conference, Formella said worked with the Federal Communications Commission and an industry group to trace the source of the calls.

“It’s providing us a real-life example of an attempt to use AI to interfere with an election," said AG Formella.

NBC 5 spoke with several political contractors Tuesday who do similar types of work. They tell NBC 5 that Walter Monk probably did not organize the calls on his own; he likely was getting paid by a campaign or political organization for his services.

At his Arlington office, the door was locked when NBC 5 knocked. A man inside peaked around the corner to see who was ringing the doorbell but did not answer the door.

Inside, the wall listed the names of the companies housed at the office. One was Life Corporation, the company named by the New Hampshire AG. Another was Pollmakers, the political polling company owned by Monk. Another was Wholesale Communication where Monk is listed as the Chief Technology Officer on LinkedIn. Several other companies were listed.

Calls and emails to the companies so far have gone unanswered.

In 2019, Texas lawmakers passed a law banning "deep fake" videos published within 30 days of an election; but there are still a lot of glaring loopholes.

“Every time there’s a new technology, people figure out a way to manipulate it and use it maliciously. So that will happen for sure," Zelly Martin, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin told KXAN this week.

Martin studies disinformation in emerging technologies and indicates the New Hampshire robocall is likely the first of many examples to come.

Formella's office sent Life Corporation. a cease-and-desist letter Tuesday, ordering it to stop "any further conduct" that could be voter suppression under state law.

In 2003, the FCC issued an official citation to Life Corp. and more than a dozen alias company names for making “prerecorded unsolicited advertisements to residential telephone lines" in violation of federal telecom law.

In a 2022 interview with a Fort Worth trade publication, Monk's age is listed as 69 and he is cited as the founder of a political polling company that employs 30 people. A search of Federal Election Commission data found no payments to a firm of that name.

Formella said his office received “multiple complaints” and is working on the case with the FCC, an anti-robocall coalition of all 50 state attorneys general, and a telecom industry trade group that conducts call traces for law enforcement and others.

With AI a growing concern not just in politics, the FCC last month moved to criminalize most AI-generated robocalls.

“Don’t try it,” Formella said. “If you do ... the consequences for your actions are severe.”