A new Senate bill aims to establish a federal task force to combat deepfake-powered identity theft and fraud. The proposed task force would examine how AI can be used to detect and prevent financial fraud. 

The task force would be chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and include leaders or representatives from the Federal Reserve, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Within a year, the task force would present a report to Congress that would outline best practices and policy recommendations to protect consumers from deepfake scams.

“The popularity of social media has made video and audio of potential targets easier to obtain for bad actors. These materials can be exploited to replicate the voices and appearances of other people in pursuit of data theft, identity theft, or fraud,” the bill reads.

Introduced on June 18 by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), the bipartisan Preventing Deep Fake Scams Act mirrors a House version introduced earlier this year by Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Mike Flood (R-Neb.).

Congress has increasingly focused on AI-related fraud, including legislation addressing deepfakes in pornography and election interference.

Last year, major tech companies in the US and globally signed an accord to tackle the deceptive use of AI-generated deepfakes, ahead of the U.S. election.

The “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections” was signed by the likes of Meta, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and OpenAI, at the Munich Security Conference.