Sam Altman gives stern warning on AI, fraud and passwords — 'That is a crazy thing to still be doing'
Most recently, that's around the AI fraud crisis. With AI and deepfakes, it is easier than ever for people to impersonate others and commit fraud using these advanced tools.
'A thing that terrifies me is apparently there are still some financial institutions that will accept a voice print as authentication for you to move a lot of money or do something else — you say a challenge phrase, and they just do it,' Altman said at the Federal Reserve conference in Washington.
That is a crazy thing to still be doing… AI has fully defeated most of the ways that people authenticate currently, other than passwords
'That is a crazy thing to still be doing… AI has fully defeated most of the ways that people authenticate currently, other than passwords.'
These comments from Altman come as AI shows its ability to replicate voices more efficiently than ever. While safeguards are often put in place by some of the bigger companies, it is still a simple process to replicate anyone's voice with a few short recordings.
The technology is also growing rapidly in the video world. There are concerns that, in the near future, we'll be able to easily produce a video and audio combination that can fool anyone into believing they are having a full conversation with a real person.
This speech comes as the White House ramps up to release its 'AI action plan'. This would be a policy document that outlines its approach to AI regulation. This is something other countries have looked to do as well, but few have produced very detailed approaches.
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OpenAI is gearing up to be ahead of the AI movement in terms of policy. The company has confirmed that it will soon open its first Washington, DC office with a small workforce. This would be used to host policymakers and provide AI training to those making decisions on the technology.
The company also recently announced an agreement with the U.K. government to find ways to use AI in government decisions, as well as helping explain the benefits and concerns of AI.
Altman isn't alone in concern from the higher-ups of AI. Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei has recently warned about the effects of AI on job security, and the Future of Life institute has recently claimed that most AI companies are not planning enough for the future.
However, where AI can be a risk, it can also be a benefit. While some AI tools look to create scams, others look to detect it. As the technology gets better, it becomes more useful on both sides of the spectrum.
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