To help you understand what voice cloning is, how it's part of the rise in AI-assisted scams and what we expect to happen in this area in the future, our highly experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here’s the latest…
Federal regulators are racing to combat a scam straight out of Terminator 2: Voice cloning — where artificial intelligence (AI) is used to impersonate someone for the purpose of stealing personal information and money.
The AI-created voice can trick someone over the phone by making up an emergency requiring urgent action, such as a car crash that lands a loved one in jail, requiring a fast bail payment. Although regulators are behind the eight ball, recent efforts should help.
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For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating how voice cloning can be used for robocalls and robotexts. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission has launched a contest for innovators to develop new tech solutions to the problem.
In October, New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, revealed that he used this kind of generative AI voice technology to make robocalls to voters in multiple languages (including Haitian Creole, Mandarin, and Spanish) even though Adams himself does not speak any languages fluently besides English. The realistic-sounding calls are entirely AI-rendered using text that is input into cloning software, Voice Lab, from American software company Eleven Labs.
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