HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more prevalent. AARP is warning seniors about using this as another tool for scammers.
“Before, you could FaceTime and see if someone was real. With AI, you never know if that’s really the case,” said Keali Lopez, director of AARP Hawaii.
“AI can be used for deepfake images, and you can clone voices so you can get used to hearing (someone’s) voice, but it’s actually a clone, someone else.
The concern comes as a growing number of phone scammers are posing as law enforcement officers and demanding money by falsely claiming they are resolving outstanding arrest warrants, court cases, or failing to appear for jury duty. This comes in response to a report by the U.S. Marshals Service.
“If law enforcement officers need to deal with you, they will do so directly,” said Justin Davis, U.S. Marshal for the District of Hawaii.
“I have a friend who is a lawyer, and the sheriff called me if I didn’t pay this contempt bond, and he was very responsive and I used all the proper legal terms. And she was a lawyer, like a legitimate trial lawyer, and she almost got fooled,” said Sean Boyd, a digital creator and technology writer.
Boyd said we all need to learn the tell-tale signs of a scam, whether it’s a phone call or a video chat.
“Usually it’s a pause. It’s a weird intonation. It’s a weird eye movement that doesn’t match what you’d expect,” he said.
However, with advances in AI, such habits may soon disappear, so we will need to be even more insightful.
“When we say ‘Hauzit,’ we tilt our heads a little bit. We don’t just say ‘Hauzit,’ we say ‘Hauzit!'” he said, tilting the back of his head slightly. . “It’s always going up a little bit. So if you see a deepfake where someone says ‘Hausit’ and their head isn’t tilted back, it’s fake. It’s a deepfake,” he said with a laugh.
It’s funny to realize that, but it may be no laughing matter for the kupuna, who are the most frequently targeted. That’s why AARO is hosting an online course on AI next month.
“Technology is going to be important,” Lopez said. “I think the complexity will increase exponentially, and we want kupuna to be part of the future.”
AARP will be holding an online class on AI on Tuesday, November 5th and two subsequent Tuesdays. Learn more about how to sign up here. You do not need to be an AARP member to participate.
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