Big Tech has led to many innovations that make life markedly better.
But there are also serious downsides.
And a parent’s worst nightmare was realized with one disturbing technology.
People are hotly debating what needs to be done about artificial intelligence.
Some want to put safeguards on the technology, while others, including Google co-founder Larry Page, want to create a “digital god.”
AI has many implications for the future that could be positive, but as Elon Musk warned, AI also has the power to be more dangerous than nukes.
When looking at the negative effects of AI, one has to consider how it could be used by bad actors.
And low-level criminals are already taking advantage.
Exploiting parents
Kevin David, a successful appliance store owner in Ohio, was tricked into believing that his daughter Brooke had been kidnapped thanks to AI.
David told reporters, “This is one of those scams you’d think you’d never fall for.”
He received a distress call from whom he thought was his daughter.
David explained, “It was Brooke’s voice. . .It started out very calm and slow, with her saying ‘Dad this is Brooke.’”
Soon, the voice turned hysterical.
David continued, “I couldn’t understand anything else she was saying.”
Then a man got on the line.
“He says we’ve got Brooke, and she’s in the back of my car now,” David said.
The man threatened to hurt his daughter if he did not receive a wire for $5,000.
Luckily, an employee at the store quickly called Brooke and discovered that she was safe and sound at school.
David added, “They had her voice, they had her name, they had my name.”
David is not the only parent to be duped by AI scams.
Parental panic
A mother living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan got a call that her 14-year-old daughter was in trouble.
The woman heard an AI voice say, “Mommy, I just got arrested. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Someone posing as a police officer got on the phone and told her to bring $15,500 in cash to bail her out.
The woman headed to the bank to withdraw the cash when she finally got a call from her daughter, who was in school and had been taking a chemistry exam.
The distraught mother explained, “I’m aware it was really stupid – and I’m not a stupid person – but when you hear your child’s voice, screaming, crying, it just puts you on a different level.”
These types of scams are only going to get more elaborate as AI improves.
People need to be on high alert for people using this technology for ill.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
