Every day, scams are becoming more alarming. With the help of artificial intelligence, scammers now pose a higher risk to Americans than ever before. Annually, billions of dollars are lost due to impostor scams, increasing nearly threefold since 2020. Even before AI became widespread, impersonation fraud was a significant issue. Today, it results in millions of individual reports of scams and theft every year, with AI enhancing the power of cloning tools.
A notable example involves Arizona mother Jennifer DeStefano. In 2023, she received a phone call where her 15-year-old daughter was crying and pleading for help. A man then took over the call, claiming her daughter had been kidnapped and demanded a $1 million ransom, later reducing it to $50,000. Before any payment was made, DeStefano confirmed her daughter’s safety. She later testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, describing this encounter as an AI deepfake kidnapping and extortion scam.
This problem has escalated with fast-advancing AI technology. AI facilitates the imitation of trusted individuals, making it difficult to assess the authenticity of a phone call or video. Voice and image duplication have become more advanced, requiring only three seconds of audio for a scammer to replicate a voice.
Deepfakes represent another significant concern, as they do not need explicit human consent, impacting privacy, security, and corporate reputation. This raises the question: shouldn’t people have rights against digital replicas? In 2024, following an AI study with over 10,000 public comments, the U.S. Copyright Office acknowledged significant gaps in current AI-related protections. It recommended that Congress pass a federal law safeguarding individuals against the unauthorized distribution of digital replicas.
The AI threat extends to private citizens, beyond entertainment and politics, affecting all of society. Creative professionals understand this issue firsthand, including musicians and voice actors who fear generative AI taking their work and likeness. Intellectual property protections are common sense, as seen in movements like “Creatives for Secure AI,” aiming to confront this challenge and protect individuals’ likenesses.
Congress recognizes this concern as well. The bipartisan NO FAKES Act aims to protect Americans by creating a federal intellectual property right against unauthorized digital replicas of voice and likeness. The premise is simple: one’s identity should belong solely to them. No one should fear their face or voice being duplicated or manipulated for deceit.
As AI development progresses rapidly, Americans need legal protections that align with current and evolving technology. Consider the layers of the AI threat: How many stories like DeStefano’s remain unknown? How many creatives risk having their identities used without permission? Addressing these questions requires common sense legislation, starting with the NO FAKES Act. Despite passing the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously, the bill awaits a Senate vote. It is crucial for congressional leaders to move this forward and begin making progress on this pressing issue.
Deepfakes improve, and scams worsen. It’s time for individuals to voice their concerns against identity theft and for Congress to heed these calls. Nico Zviovich, an advisor for The Alliance for Secure AI, initiated “Creatives for Secure AI.” He is also a film producer and the chief impact officer of MovieGoer, a film distribution and marketing firm.
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