AI-Generated Voice Evidence Poses Dangers in Court

Gary Schildhorn received a call that no parent wants to receive. When Schildhorn picked up the phone, the voice of his panicked son told him that he had been in a car accident and was in jail. A second call, moments later, purportedly from a lawyer, gave Schildhorn instructions on how to pay the $9,000 bond. Schildhorn was preparing payment when he received a call from his real son, who was not, in fact, in jail. Schildhorn nearly fell victim to the growing trend of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice scams. AI-generated voices are a problem not only for fraud but also for the legal system. Indeed, accusations of AI-generated voice clones have now made their way into the courts, and the way the courts deal with audio recording evidence needs to catch up. Under the current Federal Rules of Evidence, someone trying to introduce an audio recording of a voice can satisfy the authentication standard for admissibility merely by putting a witness on the stand who says they are famil ... Read full article.