The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) implemented a rule yesterday on government and business impersonation that would also prohibit the use of AI to impersonate individuals.

The new rule primarily targets the prevention of government and business impersonation schemes, while also extending this prohibition to include the impersonation of individuals. Additionally, it holds accountable entities that supply the tools and resources for creating fraudulent impersonations. The FTC pointed to concerns about AI-generated deepfakes as the reason behind these actions.

The Commission revealed that recent data shows consumers lost approximately $1.1 billion in the past year due to scams that utilize AI-generated content. The data highlights the 5 most frequently reported methods used by impostors impersonating government and business entities to persuade consumers to turn over their funds: copycat account security alerts; fraudulent subscription renewals; deceptive offers of giveaways, discounts, or cash prizes; fabricated legal issues; and made-up package delivery complications.

The new rule also equips the agency with enhanced mechanisms to combat and discourage scammers impersonating government agencies and businesses by enabling the FTC to file federal court cases aimed at reimbursing affected consumers and imposing civil penalties on violators of the rule.

The implementation of the new rule is anticipated to bolster the FTC’s capacity in combating scams utilizing AI to impersonate individuals. FTC Chair Lina Kahn stated fraudsters “are using AI tools to impersonate individuals with eerie precision and at a much wider scale,” in a statement announcing the new rule. “With voice cloning and other AI-driven scams on the rise, protecting Americans from impersonator fraud is more critical than ever. Our proposed expansions to the final impersonation rule would do just that, strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to address AI-enabled scams impersonating individuals,” she added.

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