Incident·WS-0016·Jan 21, 2024·disclosed Jan 22, 2024 (1 days later)·in the wild·Misinformation & fabrication

AI Biden robocall urges New Hampshire voters to stay home

Steve Kramer (consultant) / AI voice clone; Lingo Telecom

27/100
WS-2 Moderate
Harm score 30, signal score 24. Autonomy: tool (a person misused it). How the scores work.
Harm 1/5
damage actually done
Reach 3/5
who was affected
Autonomy 0/4
how much the AI did on its own
Novelty 3/5
how new the behavior was
Permanence 1/5
how hard it is to undo

Ahead of New Hampshire's January 2024 presidential primary, robocalls with an AI-cloned voice of President Biden told Democrats to save their vote for November. The FCC fined consultant Steve Kramer $6 million and settled with carrier Lingo Telecom for $1 million, and ruled AI-voiced robocalls illegal under the TCPA; a state jury acquitted Kramer of all criminal charges in June 2025.

Damage

thousands of voters reached (FCC counted ~3,000 spoofed calls); $6M FCC forfeiture; $1M carrier settlement

The capability behind it

Sources

NPR, second source. Call date (Sun 21 Jan 2024, two days before the 23 Jan primary) from NH AG reporting; sources fetched say 'eve of the primary'. Kramer faced 13 felony voter-suppression and 13 misdemeanor impersonation counts; acquitted June 2025.

Factor ratings and the score are this index’s judgments by a published formula; facts, dates and figures come from the linked sources. Where a lawsuit is pending, the summary reports allegations, not findings.