OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed deep concern about the continued use of voice-based authentication methods by banks, particularly as AI technology has advanced to the point where it can easily deceive such systems.
The rise of AI-driven deepfake voice and video scams over the past year has prompted criminals to exploit this technology to steal money. Recently, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to assist banks in identifying these scams.
During an interview at the Federal Reserve, Altman stated, “I am very nervous that we have an impending, significant fraud crisis. Right now, it’s a voice call; soon it’s going to be a video or FaceTime that’s indistinguishable from reality.”
He highlighted that some financial institutions still rely on voice prints for high-stakes transactions, which he finds alarming: “It terrifies me that there are still some financial institutions that will accept a voice print as authentication for moving significant amounts of money. You say a challenge phrase, and they just proceed. That is a crazy thing to still be doing… AI has fully defeated most of the ways that people authenticate currently, other than passwords.”