Pa. AG-Elect Likely to Target AI, Robocalls, and Opioids

Stephen Piepgrass, a partner with Troutman Pepper and co-leader of the firm’s State Attorneys General practice, was quoted in the November 18, 2024 Law360 article, “Pa. AG-Elect Likely to Target AI, Robocalls, and Opioids.”

Piepgrass said that AI is now used more frequently in robocall scenarios. He also noted that the Federal Communications Commission recently held that the use of AI in telemarketing can violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Sunday could also use Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to prosecute AI scammers and might be interested in joining related interstate actions with other AGs, Piepgrass said.

The same is true of AG actions involving the opioid epidemic, according to Piepgrass, who pointed to holding opioid makers accountable as one of Sunday’s key priorities. State AGs have secured several large-scale settlements in opioid litigation across the country.

“He focused a lot on opioid issues in the past; that tells me that the healthcare industry may be an area of focus for him,” Piepgrass said. “Obviously, that’s something state AGs have focused on in multistate groups and individually.”

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That is not an unusual stance for a Republican, Piepgrass said.

“To the extent that those issues come before him, we could probably expect a more energy-friendly approach than if a Democrat had taken office,” Piepgrass said. “Given that he seems to be a traditional Republican, we can probably expect to see some pretty business-friendly policies.”