You’re going to be replaced by ‘mimics’ — software routines, Bots and insertions that already impersonate you…
I was on a Zoom call with someone the other day that I thought I recognised, but didn’t know that well. But then I was told it was a ‘mimic’? It was not a real person. A mimic? But at first I couldn’t see it? Then all of a sudden I could see…
Last week I was approach by a smart AI company that spots Deep Fakes, in other words they get behind the digital persona and find out who is behind a ‘Deep Fake’ host…? I have to say once you know what to look for there are clues, but the seams and joins are disappearing as ‘photo realistic’ copies are so good, as Unreal 5 can demonstrate — rapidly becoming the ‘go to tech’ for film makers and big studios.
CriminalAI’s are everywhere…
No seriously, I am not talking about politicians, not yet anyway. In many ways they, the politicians, started the concept of the deep fake industry — the art of looking sincere, talking a lot without saying anything. The body language looks genuine as they lie through their teeth, try to mislead as the training is very good. They spread false rhetoric with misleading statements and are adept at NOT answering the question! It is seamless. Seemingly real. And yet? You get what I mean I hope…
Criminals are changing direction and strategies, and yes this includes our governments — as state sponsored hacking becomes the new norm. We are all subject to it, we have become numb, which is exactly what they intended. We have been worn down b social media bots, falsehoods and bias. We ignore what is going on. Leaving them free to watch us when they want. Spying on citizens and on everyone else, everyone is a target — the worrying trend — to use technology for authoritarian means is accelerating.
Here is what Criminals (AI) is up to…
Criminal elements have created a new series of AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms, many of which were not that sophisticated to begin with. However, over recent decades these AI’s have been trained, curated, adjusted and refined to a point where they are very sophisticated, powerful and dangerous. The problem they are difficulty to detect and, impossible to stop and everywhere.
The criminal AI has a single purpose — to collect online data, from social media profiles, news and everything the internet throws up about you. Who you know, your friends and family, name of pets, dates, pictures, locations and all social media platforms. Everything is collected, and I mean everything.
Let that sink in a bit… Yes…you heard right…
These AIs are able to track and trace your entire online history — all your web searches, pictures, posts and the sites you’ve visited, yes that means all sites, since the beginning of the internet age — back to genesis. Something the Intelligence Services in most counties already do, but deny, as privacy laws are sidestepped and overwritten, in the name of national security interests. Unless of course you’re talking about the US which has virtually no privacy laws left — which is sort of convenient given it’s the home of Big Tech.
CriminalAI uses a series of algorithms to start to make sense of your life, to analyse your pictures, work out how your face moves, the shape of your mouth as you talk, where your eyes are fixed, the resonance of your voice tones — all necessary to create a Deep Fake version of you. A pitcure, a video and even a speech. All they need is just 60 pictures to do it really well. In order to create a fake that is so accurate it will take another AI to tell it apart. And now they hack to get access to your Biomarkers, as recent medical resords hacks attest, and yet what isn’t revealed is more than a billion people’s medical records have already been hacked!
Um…
The AI also knows your friends and family, your address, your location, and aligns with national databases to fill in the gaps, as public record information joins with private and hacked information. Then the AI start assembling and building a broader profile about you — what you do, where you go (meta data), your birthday, names of your children, I think you are starting to get the picture… CriminalAI will build a database of that holds millions of pieces of information, data about you — pictures, maps, locations, friends, voice, backgrounds, pets, holidays and and…
You think this is bad, unfortunately for you the worst is yet to come…
Free Will
Let’s talk about ‘free will’, of course AI doesn’t have a personality, think for itself, doesn’t have pernicious intent, although the algorithms can adjust parameters and refine what it is doing to meet the ‘objective’. The all encompassing output for the AI-the all importanr OBJECTIVE.
The ultimate objective is likely to be to impersonate or MIMIC you, as an online, digital persona. A digital version of you, an avatar that is more you than you. In some ways the MIMIC is more complete and more original than you, as it has access to everything in real time, much of which you have forgotten or not paying attention to. The MIMIC is more human than humanly possible. But who would know, right?
It will get through…
AI’s has the advantage all software has, they can replicate themselves their actions and processes so that they can do things at scale. Such as attempting millions of Login attempts per day until they get into your social media and bank accounts, and other online systems. Once inside, not that you will know, they have everything they need to run rampant to steal everything, delete everything, impersonate you or control you. This is exactly what the security services can do to you of you become a target — where the only options is off-grid.
Your entire Identity, Profiles, your Digital You…which is out there anyway as banks and large companies trade and exchange you data freely without consequence, they are frequently hacked and companies freely trade our personal data as part of doing everyday business — on bills, invoices, orders, delivery notes, contactless payments, unprotected WiFi in cafe’s, it’s all an open, available mess!
The AI isn’t looking for just vulnerabilities, and clues to your passwords and memorable words, phrases or keys. It is collecting information about names, dates, phrases, locations, schools, names of pets all assembled in a data mash-up to make predictive guesses to open you up and exploit you much further. Its learning to copy you, to impersonate you, to loom and feel like you — the voice, the face, the experessions and sayings. A MIMIC will eventually breech all your passwords for Zoom, Teams and Skype. The AI will get in. Then it will MIMIC you, to staff, clients and collagues and like me you may not notice!
CriminalAI and the teams behind them have millions of AI’s running continually on powerful servers (probably running on AWS) working things out about you, me, organisations and governments mainly for extortion and the growing rise in ransomeware as-a-services attacks. Attacks that are very profitable and where 35% of people, organisations generally simply pay up — signalling to the hackers to be repeatedly hit again and again.
The AI is sweeping up all the data about you that is out there, as its mostly unprotected, as we generously volunteer it, give it away on sites like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. It is worth remembering that 100% of mobile phones have viruses. This is because society forces us to share everything (we record this for training and quality purposes — and we asked dumb questions for GDPR compliances purposes). Then here is the culture of the influencer whos fake lives look far more interesting than our own. The fakers are about to become Deep Fakes, the scammers are about to become Scammed, the haters who anonymously Slander and Attack people will be outed and exposed — this bit I like.
Data isn’t owned
The issue for commerce is data isnt owned by anyone, although you think you do. Sender, Receiver and Messages, even encryted messages aren’t yours. There is no value in data which is frequently copied and pasted. There is no concept of ownership let alone control of data. This is the Internet, this is the wilds west. People, users, authors and creator have no sovereignty over the things they own digitally, their ideas or identity. This is the issue!
Deep Fake you
The AI as you read this is assembling your ‘digital twin’. A copy so accurate it can pass as you online. The new generation of CriminalAI has added voice synthesis, mimic-ing your exact voice. Leaving messages for people you know, or maybe making you out to be a racist, a hater, a nasty person. Ruining relationships and friendships as deep fake as a service already freely available turns nasty. Where the person that has stolen you, your online presence – they will extort you and there is nothing you can do about it. As this is the only version of you, you have.
But their are cracks and limits. Other biometrics are much harder to MIMIC but it is learning. File sizes are also challenging as a facial or retina scan produces large files, alog with voice that until now were had to capture, transfer and analyse on the fly — in real time. Now you can!
The Law
A last word on the Law and bringing CriminalAI to justice. As the Law stands only humans are guilty of doing bad things, like theft or fraud. Yes that’s right. when I first discovered this my mind was thinking “of course it is!”. Why am I not surprised…?
Machines, systems and software (AI) remain outside the scope of current Law. You might be tempted to argue the person that wrote the AI is responsible, a valid argument one would have thought, unless you’re using various code generation tools such as GPT3 — so good luck with proving who took ownership of your digital life? A programmer on the other side of the world in a country where Law has less impact, or state sponsored hackers.
The current Laws such as GDPR is fuelling the CriminalAI, creating situations for us all like pushing someone in front of an approach bus. The amount of times banks, even building merchants, doctors ask us to confirm our identity online, or on a call, confirming our post code, a number sequence (pin code), our DOB, even using ‘two factor authentication’ (2FA) everything is being recorded, analysed and processed.
There are on average 10million pieces of information about you by the time you are 30. The wider problem is the Intelligence Community already record everything we do, every call, conversation, triangulating the location, sending and receiving numbers and end points-especially if you have a self driving car, or have a roaming phone that receives constant updates.
CriminalAI is learning and becoming more powerful as it remains in the hands of governments, rogue states and yes criminals…
Final Thought
One day you might meet your MIMIC on a Zoom call…what then? You dial in and so does the MIMIC. Who is real? In the eyes of your colleagues who is real? Who is talking more sense? Who looks shifty and nervous? Who is looking suspicious?
You, we, humanity is basically already screwed!
Author: Nick Ayton
Nick is a Deep Tech specialist and influencer writes articles on tech, is a sought after speaker.