American businessman investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffet, has predicted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) scams will emerge as the next major growth industry.
Buffet made this disclosure at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, highlighting the technology’s ability to reproduce malicious content that would generate money for bad actors.
In his words,
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
“When you think about the potential for scamming people, if I was interested in investing in scamming, AI is going to be the growth industry of all time and it’s enabled in a way. Obviously, AI has the potential for good things too, but I do think as someone who doesn’t understand a damn thing about it, it has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm, and I just don’t know how that plays out”.
Buffett’s comments is coming after he saw a video that replicated his voice, likeness, and mannerisms with unsettling accuracy. Furthermore, he likened AI to nuclear weapons, which he said has been doing some terrible things lately, noting that the power of the advanced technology gives him huge concern.
Buffet’s prediction casts a shadow on the future of industries, painting a picture where AI scams emerge as significant players in the economic landscape. With the proliferation of AI, it opens new avenues for exploitation and deceit.
Interestingly, as AI technologies advance, so do the capabilities of scammers, who leverage these tools to orchestrate sophisticated schemes with unprecedented reach and impact. From identity theft to financial fraud, the spectrum of AI-enabled scams spam-wide cast a shadow of uncertainty over the digital realm.
Experts warn that these scams are on the rise and there is no slowing down as these scammers continue to innovate new ways with the advanced technology. Recall that in March last year, Guardian Australia journalist Nick Evershed said he was able to use an AI version of his voice to gain access to his Centrelink self-service account, which raised concerns for some security experts.
However, with voice cloning being the top most exploited one by scammers, experts say it is not the only way they are taking advantage of AI.
As AI systems improve, large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT can better emulate human-like responses, this is something that scammers try to recreate in emails, text messages, and other chatbots they might create themselves.
Also, scammers are using AI in phishing scams, which typically involve an email or text message that purports to be from a legitimate source but ends up using social engineering to obtain personal information.
As businesses and individuals alike embrace the promise of Al-driven innovation, they must ensure to remain vigilant and ahead of the curve, against the looming threat of exploitation. Only by understanding and addressing the vulnerabilities inherent in these advanced technologies can they safeguard against the rise of Al scams and ensure a future of sustainable growth and prosperity.