In the past few years, the Artificial Intelligence industry has made several advancements, making it much harder to tell at first glance what's AI-generated and what's real.
Cpl. Ricky Perkins with the RCMP's Cyber and Financial Crime Unit said certain populations are less aware of AI than others - mainly focused on age. Younger generations have grown up with technology, where AI is an entirely new concept for many seniors.
"There is a generation of people right now that are tech-savvy, grew up with this type of technology and understand it a lot better, but a big part of our population, even for my age, I'm in my mid 40s, we're new to a lot of this stuff, and then there's an even older population that maybe doesn't even really understand what AI is or how we're using it," said Cpl. Perkins.
Even younger generations need to look a bit closer with recent developments in the industry. The Alberta RCMP recently ran a campaign comparing AI-generated images to real ones, noting it's getting a lot harder to tell the difference.
In recent times, and as AI continues to improve, Cpl. Perkins said the Cyber and Financial Crime Unit expects to see a rise in sextortion crimes, especially affecting younger populations, and a rise in AI-assisted scams targeting seniors.
"We're gonna see a lot of things with sextortion, meaning people can take an image of a person from their Facebook or Instagram, and then using their face, put it into a compromising photograph, which looks very realistic...we're also seeing some instances where AI is being used to help recreated voices in grandparents scams, that's more of a complicated thing I think, because getting the voice right for someone that you're trying to target, so I think those are more targeted attacks, where they know who their victim is, and they can use some of their videos or different things from family members to help create that voice," said Cpl. Perkins.
The one big piece of advice Cpl. Perkins has if you're concerned about AI: question everything you see online.
"We have to kind of question almost everything we see, so if it's not from a trusted source like a friend or family member, co-worker, maybe we need to question everything just a little bit more. In AI images for example, there are some imperfections still with those images, like in the hands, or in the background," said Cpl. Perkins.
In a recent push to fight problems for youth caused by AI, Manitoba is moving to ban AI chatbot use for youth under 16.
