I am Chris Briggs, I have 20+ years of experience in technology, including face and voice biometrics and digital identities. There’s a lot of fear about AI and fraud right now, so let’s talk about it. Ask me anything.

I've seen recent news reports of voice cloning using AI , which scares me about sharing my biometrics ... what can we, as consumers, do to protect ourselves/ our data out there?

To start, control the flow of data. Make sure hat you trust the organization with whom you are engaging. Check your consent and ensure you understand how your biometrics are being used and the terms under which it is stored. Last, stay vigilant and manage your digital footprint, especially those sites leveraging biometrics.

To start, control the flow of data. Make sure that you trust the organization with whom you are engaging. Check your consent and ensure you understand how your biometrics are being used and the terms under which it is stored. Last, stay vigilant and manage your digital footprint, especially those sites leveraging biometrics.

How can I tell you're Chris Briggs and not an AI impersonating him?

Please hold... here I am, answering your questions IRL: https://imgur.com/a/60Gsr8S

I keep getting messages that my information, including my SS is on the dark web and it's making me very concerned. What action am I supposed to take to remove my information from the dark web?

First, in my friend's words from HHGTG, "Don't panic." Not to be glib, but honestly, there is a lot of information about you that is publicly available both generally on the web, as well as on the dark web more specifically. Second, you can be assured that there are ways to manage the proliferation of your data. Awareness and diligence are vital to the process. Ensure you keep information distributed in as limited a manner as possible. Also, from a practical perspective, change your passwords, don't reuse passwords, use multifactor authentication when available, add SIM swapping protection to your phone, stay proactive and monitor your credit reports.

As we lean more into AI and making it more accessible, how should we make sure people are aware of the kind of biases AI can pick up during training?

Note that Experian says: There are different tools you can use to see if your information is on the dark web, has been leaked in a data breach, or is easily accessible on the surface (in other words, not dark) web. Experian's free dark web scan can look for your email address, phone number, and Social Security number, and Experian's personal privacy scan can search for your information on people finder sites.

Hi Chris,

I'm concerned with how rapidly AI is being used as a security tool for private information. Apple's FaceID and my bank's implementation of voiceprint ID seems exploitable by competing AI technology. It also seems like a FaceID is a bad idea for some people, say, if you have an identical twin. What do you think about the modern implementation of AI as security?

As we lean more into AI and making it more accessible, how should we make sure people are aware of the kind of biases AI can pick up during training?

Separating AI as an enabler from an actual verification capability like FaceID is an essential first step. Many will not be comfortable with using verification technologies like FaceID, and that is OK. That said, others believe that using tools like FaceID creates a better, safer customer experience. In that latter scenario, we have seen that with proper controls, and if a user TRUSTS a company, they'll give up some control to gain better usability.

Do you think AI could actually turn against us?

Also.... from a personal perspective, I do understand this fear, but no, I don't worry about this because I know brilliant minds and tech leaders are ahead of this.

While the identity industry needs to innovate, balancing regulation and third-party standards is critical to reduce the risks, real and perceived, of AI taking over.

With the advent of AI voice - do you see this interfering with how admissible voice recordings would be in a court proceeding? What do we have to authenticate or corroborate speech evidence anymore? I find this extremely distressing and the tech companies need significant reining in.

At this point, there are tests to determine whether it's a live or simulated voice. Each person has a unique "voice print," so for court proceedings, if there's a recorded testimony, they may have to start doing a "voice print" compare to ensure it's both live and the same person.

Also, the thing to remember with AI-generated voice samples is that they require vast amounts of sample data. For public figures (celebrities, politicians, etc.), that’s much more plausible. However, for an average citizen, it’s still relatively unlikely that an AI model would have enough sample data to emulate their speech. In addition, from a technical standpoint, there are several ways to check for audio liveness versus generated audio (from recordings). Hopefully, for a court case -- where a piece of audio evidence was crucial to the verdict -- courts would use this type of screening to verify authenticity.

1. Do you think The Singularity is possible?
2. If AI leap frogs our intelligence by 100,000% will it see us as their benevolent creators or mere ants?

Indeed, with the quick growth of AI, it would seem "The Singularity" could be in our future, but the good news for us is that we have controls in place, and many industries cannot easily replace humans. While AI is great for our technological future, we must stay on top of keeping our human connections and advancing us along with AI.

Wait... did you happen to have a college prof named Zeff?

My question wouldn't be so much a personal fraud question, so much as I'm wondering how advanced machine learning has become, regarding identification of biased sources. I guess what I want to know is if the currency of the future will be information, how are the data feeding algorithms going to be able to cope with spam feeding planting algorithms?

Note this could impact personal privacy/security, should someone decide to target an individual with a spam campaign. Anyone looking for info on the individual could find an AI summary that is neither flattering nor true.

u/anti-torque - that is a very provocative question that many fraud experts are currently discussing. Take, for example, my friend Frank "on Fraud," who has recently referenced the concept of "machine on machine" in his recent 2023 Predictions referencing "New Era In Fraud Fighting Will Pit Machine Against Machine."

I use bitwarden for password management, but how often should I change my master password and what's a good strategy to generate and store that?

There are no strict rules or standards on updating passwords stored using a password manager. I advise, however, that you regularly (at least every few weeks) update passwords regardless of where they are stored. Also, pay attention to those messages that might alert you that your information has been found on the dark web.

How do you deal with face biometrics if I have an evil identical twin?

That is tough, but fortunately, many technologies detect biometrics and liveness. So, you should be able to keep yourself outside the influence of your evil twin - even when using facial recognition.

Will a rapid shift in jobs destabilize the economy?

Possibly, but I am not 100% sure that is directly correlated to the use of AI and/or biometrics.

Do you think fingerprint debit/credit cards are in our near future, or do you think we're not gonna bother with that and instead focus on digital wallets as we slowly phase cards out?

The infrastructure is largely in place for digital wallets but would require huge changes for fingerprint debit/credit cards, so digital wallets will come first.

Do you find precision or recall to be a more important performance metric?

There is some subjectivity on this one, but I would likely say... precision because that leads to the best recall. Using a specific example relevant to this discussion, re-verification is much easier if you have a good face template.

What kinds of regulations are going to see and how soon?

Different geographies will likely have varying priorities, but regulations will emerge in the next 6 - 12 months in many places. For example, we are beginning to see many of the algorithms for credit scores come under scrutiny from regulatory bodies in the US. Also, bias has been a concern voiced in the US market more broadly. AI also requires vast amounts of data, which is now highly regulated in Europe with strict rules around consumer consent and control of personal data to be used by models.