Over the past few years, especially these past few months, AI Voice Cloning has exponentially become very realistic.(3) And used to benefit patients suffering from such diseases as A.L.S., Parkinson’s, throat cancer, etc. One such company, Voice Keeper stores patients voices to be used with text to speech software, talking in their own voice when their voice finally gives out. Others like AI memorial service uses people's voices to continue to interact with family even after they've passed away to lessen the pain of their loss..(1) Nevertheless, as wonderful as the above uses are to people with debilitating illnesses, criminals are seeing opportunities to totally rip people off, traumatizing them in the process.
Jennifer DeStefano took it to Congress and even her local AZ State Senator, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her experience; thus prompting Congress to introduce the Quiet Act on 1/29/2024, dealing higher penalties for using AI voice cloning impersonating people, but since introduced it's been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce where it sits waiting.(4) And in Arizona, Jennifer's home state, “Sen. Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) introduced legislation [Arizona Senate Bill 1599] that would amend state law to make AI an ‘aggravating circumstance’ in sentencing. “What this would do is it would allow AI to be considered a tool, a weapon,” Wadsack said. “What’s happened is the people will get arrested and the police, the sheriff will say, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before.’ It’s very hard to prosecute when somebody has just mimicked a voice, and what crime is there in that? So it’s starting to introduce this new style of a weaponized tool used to extort, to blackmail, to harass.” (5)
The scamming isn't just limited to ordinary people, they've effected companies and even countries. At the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a video was uploaded to social media of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, asking his troops to surrender to the Russians – but it was bogus. And just this past February, a Hong Kong finance company employee was in a video conference with members of his senior staff and was instructed to pay out $25 Million, which turned out to be another AI fraud.
Sinead Bovell, of Futurist, said “most people in the modern age have some form of online identity and probably spoken in some way, in some aspect that's been recorded [online on social media platforms], especially if you're under the age of 25.” (2) Another expert, Mike Scheumack, the chief innovation officer at IdentityIQ, said “All they need is as little as 3 seconds, 10 seconds is even better to get a very realistic clone of your voice.. The audio sample is then run through an AI program that replicates the voice, allowing the scammer to make it say whatever they type in addition to adding laughter, fear, and other emotions into the cloned voice depending on how the scam is scripted” and freak out the victim family with a fake kidnapping or whatever scam. ”The goal of the scammer is to get you into fight or flight and to create urgency in your mind that your loved one is in some sort of trouble. So the best way to deal with those situations is to hang up and immediately call your loved one to verify if it’s them or not," he explained. (3) You can see a demo of how quickly this can be done here.
Experts warn to keep your social media profiles private whereby you only approve people you know to view. And avoid “phone calls from unfamiliar area codes or international area codes.”(2) Scheumack recommended creating a family password which can be requested to verify if it's really the family member.(4)
***If you or someone you know has been scammed this way, and is willing to share their experience, please reach out to me through Nextdoor PM. Thanks
(1) https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/the-terrifying-ai-scam-that-uses-your-loved-ones-voice
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfo2MMGZTvU
(3) https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ai-voice-cloning-scams-on-rise-expert-warns
(4) https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7123/text?s=1&r=2
(5) https://www.azfamily.com/2024/02/01/arizona-lawmaker-proposes-new-legislation-ai-crimes/
[ ] Brackets are used to correct the spelling of a person's quote or add more descriptive wording to avoid English and Literature Teachers from having a heart attack, LoL.
By Chief Editor Angelo-Lk-Whatcom-Rider-Writer,
About The writer: I've lived in Bellingham since February, 2011, and love the beautiful trees & greenery producing all that oxygen, and of course, the lake, bay, hills and mountains too. I've also been in the lovely Anacortes area for part of that time, going back and forth, since moving here.
Educational/Professional Background: Economics & Political Science Degrees at UCF. Attended Graduate School of Economics at FSU, and have worked for the FL Labor Dept as well as consulted for the FL Labor Dept on behalf of the US Labor Dept. I've been happily working in my own businesses since 1993.