Glossary
TCPA
What the TCPA is, the federal law on automated calls and texts, and what it asks of a business that calls with an AI voice.
Updated
TCPA: TCPA stands for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, the federal law behind the FCC's rules on calls and texts made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, and on the national do-not-call registry. The FCC treats a text message as a call under it. In February 2024 the FCC ruled that AI-generated voices are artificial voices under the TCPA, so a call made with one needs the prior express consent of the person called, unless it is an emergency or an exemption applies. When such a call carries an advertisement or is telemarketing, the rules ask for that consent in writing.
Where it shows up
It matters as soon as software calls or texts a business's customers, such as reminder texts or win-back calls in an AI voice. Under the FCC's rule as the eCFR showed it on October 14, 2026, a reply of stop or unsubscribe to a text is by itself a reasonable way to take consent back, and the rule caps how long a sender may take to honor the request. The FCC adopted changes to these opt-out rules on September 30, 2026 (FCC 26-67), to take effect 30 days after they are published in the Federal Register, and on October 15, 2026 they were not yet published.
In the calling and texting jobs we build, the client collects and keeps the consent, and its lawyer settles which calls and texts need it in writing; the written plan records the answer, and nothing here is legal advice.
Related terms
- 10DLCWhat 10DLC is, the registration a business needs before software texts customers from an ordinary phone number.
- Two-party consentWhat two-party consent means for recording a phone call in California, and where it comes up when a business hands calls to AI.
- Bot disclosureWhat bot disclosure means, and what California's bot law says about it.
- Every term in the glossary
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.