Gillibrand cracks down on AI scams against seniors

WASHINGTON, D.C. | On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) continued her efforts to crack down on artificial intelligence (AI) scams against seniors. Gillibrand and Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) sent a letter to the CEOs of top AI companies requesting information about safeguards on their AI chatbot companions for at-risk users like older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals in crisis. As ranking member of the Senate Aging Committee, Gillibrand also held a hearing alongside Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) to examine the ways that AI has fueled an alarming rise in financial scams against seniors. "Seniors deserve to age with dignity and financial security. By making it easier for bad actors to clone voices, fabricate images, and deceive targets, AI has facilitated an alarming rise in financial scams that rob our seniors of their hard-earned savings and personal information," said Senator Gillibrand. "AI companies must include safeguards to prevent their use to scam and deceive seniors, and we must strengthen the government's ability to crack down on scammers. I am proud to lead the fight for these reforms, and I will do everything I can to protect seniors from deception." Seniors lost nearly $8 billion to scammers in 2025, with an average loss of $39,000 per person. This includes over $350 million lost in AI-related scams. Total scam losses increased by 59% from 2024. Common AI scams include phishing attacks, where fraudsters trick individuals into revealing sensitive information; voice cloning, where generative AI is used to mimic a familiar voice; and image creation scams, where generative AI is used to forge documents and identification to make fraudulent messages appear trustworthy. At today's Senate Aging Committee hearing, Gillibrand and Scott heard from fraud victims, banking industry experts, and AI policy experts about how AI has fueled a rise in scams against seniors. The senators also released a new bipartisan Senate Aging Committee report detailing the ways that AI can be used to both perpetrate and help detect scams against seniors. Gillibrand and Kelly sent their letter to the CEOs of nine top AI companies requesting details about how they are protecting seniors who use their AI chatbot companions. Specifically, the letter asks: -What safety testing these companies perform for their AI companion products. -How the company tracks adverse events/harms involving their AI products, including hospitalizations, financial losses, or deaths. -What types of safeguards are built into their AI companion products to mitigate harm and protect at-risk users like seniors. -How the company includes older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, and advocacy groups in the development of their AI products. -Whether their companies provide independent researchers with access to data or tools to study the effects of their AI products on seniors and people with disabilities. The letter was sent to the CEOs of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, Perplexity AI, X, Meta, Luka, Inc., and Character Technologies Inc. The full text of the letters can be found here.

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Gillibrand cracks down on AI scams against seniors

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