WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Representatives Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) and Mike Flood (R-NE) introduced bipartisan legislation to address the growing threat of artificial intelligence (AI), often referred to as “deep fake” scams, to consumers, banks, credit unions, and the American economy. The Preventing Deep Fake Scams Act would establish a task force to examine AI in the financial services sector, including both the potential benefits of the technology for financial institutions and the unique risks it poses to customer account security.
Pettersen spoke about the bill yesterday during a Financial Services Committee hearing with the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. Click here to access the video of her remarks.
“Scammers are already learning how to take advantage of regular Americans by stealing audio, photos, videos, and other personal information to hack into bank accounts and steal people’s hard-earned money,” said Pettersen. “Artificial intelligence will only become more advanced and widely available, so our policies must keep up. Our bipartisan bill will allow Congress to stay at the cutting-edge of technological advances, understanding both the positive and negative impacts AI could have on our financial sector.”
“Artificial intelligence is already changing how people live, work, and do business. While I am excited about the potential for artificial intelligence to change our economy in positive ways, deep fakes have the potential to lead to some troubling threats for Americans like identity theft and fraud,” said Flood. “It’s an honor to team up with Congresswoman Pettersen to take this first step to combat what could be a severe risk to all Americans.”
Click here for the full text of the bill.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, an increase of more than 30 percent over the previous year. More and more of these malicious actors are utilizing AI, as the technology to augment voices, photos, and videos becomes increasingly accessible and widespread. The rise of social media has also made it easier for bad actors to obtain personal materials from individuals, which can be exploited to create "deep fakes" for data theft, identity theft, and fraud. The task force created by the Preventing Deep Fake Scams Act would be responsible for conducting in-depth research, analysis, and reporting to Congress on the various facets of artificial intelligence application within the financial services industry.
