Senator Hassan Demands Answers From ElevenLabs After FBI Reports $893 Million In AI Voice Scams - Yahoo News Australia

So Senator Maggie Hassan has decided to 'demand answers' from ElevenLabs after the FBI reported AI voice scams cost Americans $893 million last year. The senator's office sent a letter asking how the company ensures its technology isn't used for fraud, which is like asking a fireworks factory to ensure its products aren't used for arson. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged the staggering losses from 'callers using AI to mimic voices,' a figure that makes you wonder if the agency has considered just unplugging the internet entirely.

ElevenLabs, for its part, has been praised for creating 'realistic and versatile' voice cloning that can be used for everything from audiobooks to impersonating your grandmother for a quick wire transfer. The company's terms of service presumably include a line about not committing felonies, which is clearly working wonders given the near-billion-dollar scam industry that's sprung up around their product. Senator Hassan's letter asks about 'safeguards' and 'accountability measures,' which in regulatory speak translates to 'please write us a nice memo about your feelings on ethics while the grift continues unabated.'

This follows the pattern we flagged previously where voluntary industry promises prove about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. The FBI's $893 million figure represents just the reported losses, meaning the actual damage is likely far higher, and yet the response is another sternly worded letter to a company that has every incentive to keep its growth metrics looking shiny. One imagines the executives at ElevenLabs drafting their reply between counting their venture capital rounds and wondering if they should add a 'scam prevention' checkbox that users can ignore while cloning their boss's voice.