I-TEAM: AI Scams; Do you know who you are talking to?

DAYTON — Could you tell the difference between talking to a real person or artificial intelligence?

A survey by the Cybersecurity Company McAfee found that 70 percent of people don’t think they can. This comes at a time when AI voice scams have been on the rise.

In this I-Team Consumer Alert, News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz shows you how these scams work and how to keep your family and your money safe.

A simple search on Google uncovers many websites that offer AI-generated voices. Many allow you to use AI-generated voices they’ve made.

Some even allow you to clone a voice using just a little bit of audio. It took us about five minutes for us to generate an AI version of me, Hershovitz said.

He called News Center 7′s Letitia Perry and Gabrielle Enright who both failed at recognizing Hershovitz on the other end.

Dr. Art Jipson is a professor at the University of Dayton. He studied both sociology and criminology and said this is a real threat we all need to be aware of.

“People do assume that it’s like, I am not a public person. My information is not known out there. Well, if you’re on TikTok, it is,” Jipson said.

He said anyone who posts on social media can have their voice cloned by bad actors. He continued by saying we all must be cautious of calls we get even if they sound like who they say they are.

“Be cautious to be careful. But I’m also going to tell people to assume the worst. Right? And I know that’s really an awful thing to say,” Jipson said.

According to Jipson, he suggests creating a secret family password or phrase, so you know it’s really them. Also, take a breath. These scammers try to use emergencies to get you to act quickly.

It’s also important to never send money to someone unless you are 110% sure.

Just last week, the FCC outlawed AI Robo-calls: https://apnews.com/article/fcc-elections-artificial-intelligence-robocalls-regulations-a8292b1371b3764916461f60660b93e6.

However, senators want more done. Some have called on the FTC and FCC to address the rise in AI voice cloning scams, specifically Klobuchar, Collins Call on FTC, FCC to Address Rise in AI Voice Cloning Scams - News Releases - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (senate.gov).

This week, the CEO of OpenAI is once again calling on a global body to be formed to oversee AI and that the industry should not be the one leading the charge in making regulations https://apnews.com/article/uae-openai-sam-altman-artificial-intelligence-9593a03830c0ef83fdef76c68bb87118.

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