U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Shelley Moore Capito have introduced a bipartisan bill titled the Artificial Intelligence Scam Prevention Act, aimed at addressing fraud schemes that use artificial intelligence to impersonate individuals, businesses, or government officials.
According to a release from Senator Klobuchar’s office, the legislation would prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to replicate a person’s image or voice when done with intent to defraud. The bill is framed as targeting scams that rely on voice cloning, synthetic video, or other AI-enabled impersonation techniques increasingly used in financial fraud and social engineering schemes.
The proposed legislation would also codify the Federal Trade Commission’s existing ban on impersonating government agencies or businesses, updating statutory language to reflect modern communication channels. The senators’ release notes that definitions would be revised to explicitly include text messages, video conference calls, and artificial or prerecorded voices, aligning the law with current scam delivery methods.
In addition to prohibitions, the bill would establish an advisory committee intended to support coordination across federal agencies involved in scam prevention. The committee would be tasked with examining emerging threats and recommending strategies to address evolving forms of impersonation and fraud linked to artificial intelligence.
Public statements accompanying the announcement cite a rise in scams involving cloned voices and deepfake video, including cases where victims are tricked into transferring funds or disclosing sensitive information after receiving communications that appear to originate from trusted individuals or institutions.
The legislation has been introduced but has not yet advanced through committee or received a congressional budget score. As introduced, it focuses on enforcement authority and statutory clarity rather than prescribing specific technical standards for AI systems.
The bill is meant to address threats that have escalated dramatically in recent years. FinCEN has warned financial institutions about rising deepfake fraud, while Deloitte has projected that deepfake-enabled financial fraud losses could reach $40 billion by 2027. The FTC has called for public comment on rules to combat deepfake scams and previously ran a Voice Cloning Challenge to spur innovation in detection technology. Companies like Hancomwith have launched specialized solutions to combat AI-generated voice deepfakes.
Sources: Senator Klobuchar’s office, FedScoop
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
