Channel 11 Consumer Advisor Clark Howard has found himself at the center of a consumer scam, after identity thieves stole his likeness to create a “deepfake” advertisement.
The AI-generated video appears to show Clark peddling a website for insurance, and was shared on social media sites.
“We started getting complaints from people saying, ‘Why are you recommending this terrible website? I can’t believe you sold out like that!’”
Clark told Channel 11 that he’s never appeared in a commercial or paid endorsement, but the video did manage to fool a number of people.
“If you watch the video closely, you can kind of tell that I wasn’t really saying what they said I was saying, and so the video didn’t match the audio,” Clark told Channel 11. But in this digital age of scrolling and distractions, he understands how people were conned.
Channel 11 has been covering the concerns linked to AI “deepfakes” for months now.
The technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and scammers are capitalizing on it.
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“I wasn’t surprised. We knew this was coming,” Clark said. “If you’re a public figure, this is a really hard genie to put back in the bottle.”
But, Clark warns, scammers can use AI to steal just about anyone’s likeness, easily conning you by posing as a family member or a trusted loved one. If you receive a suspicious call that’s seemingly from someone you know, Clark advises you to hang up and call that person back, in order to verify that you’re speaking to the real person.
“I don’t want people to become cynical, but you need to be more skeptical of what you see and what you hear.”
Channel 11 asked Clark if he’s been able to take legal action or steps to deter “deepfakes.”
“We’ve been all over that, and to this point I’ve got nothing great to report on that front... because these are not established, normal companies you’re dealing with, it’s very, very hard to do anything effective about it.”
Moreover, Clark said that he tried to contact the social media sites from where the deepfakes were shared, and he saw no action taken.
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