I need to start by talking about the impact AI is having on digital identity. CNN reported on A finance worker in Hong Kong who was tricked into paying out $25 million to fraudsters using deepfake technology. The worker attended a video call with what he believed were colleagues but were instead deepfake recreations. The scam was discovered when the worker checked with the company’s head office. Hong Kong police have made six arrests in connection with deepfake scams.
404 media reported on an underground website called OnlyFake, which uses “neural networks” to generate realistic fake IDs for just $15, posing a threat to cybersecurity and enabling activities like bank fraud and money laundering. The technology has been verified to produce convincing IDs instantly, fooling online verification systems. The service claims to use “generators” to create up to 20,000 documents daily, with data from an Excel table.
By 2026, Gartner predicts that 30% of enterprises will no longer consider identity verification and authentication solutions reliable due to the use of AI-generated deepfakes.
And some insight into the viral deepfake images of Taylor Swift previously reported on. They were created as part of an online competition on 4chan to bypass AI software content filters. The images were generated using Microsoft Designer and later shared on Telegram and X.
You can’t trust video, and you can’t trust identification. That’s a big deal and shows the shakeup that is coming in AI. And 30% of enterprises already recognize that identity verification and authentication solutions will be unreliable in two years. There is a seismic shift in the identity landscape, and it’s safe to say businesses are woefully prepared.
That screams opportunity.
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