The article “Shoddy AI Clones of Celebrities Are Hawking Medicare and Medicaid Scams on YouTube” sheds light on a concerning issue of scammy ads on YouTube, utilizing AI voice cloning and deepfake technology. These AI-generated ads promote fake government grants and relief packages, often featuring cloned voices of celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Taylor Swift, Steve Harvey, Ice Cube, Andrew Tate, Oprah, and The Rock. Despite widespread outrage and warnings from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about such scams, YouTube has taken little action to remove these ads, allowing them to accumulate millions of views.
These ad scams not only use AI voice cloning of celebrities but also employ decontextualized video footage to deceive viewers. Some ads lead unsuspecting individuals to websites offering fraudulent “Relief Direct Aid,” perpetuating the prevalence of this type of scam. The alarming scale and persistence of these AI-generated scams demonstrate a foundational problem in content moderation on platforms like YouTube, leading to the promotion of sketchy or illegal activities and the risk exposure of platform users.
Whether it’s Joe Rogan or Taylor Swift, AI cloning of celebrities is being used for misleading ads promoting government handouts on YouTube. YouTube is struggling to moderate AI-generated content promoting scam ads, despite outrage and warnings from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about such scams. The persistence and prevalence of AI-generated scams underscore the need for better content moderation on digital platforms, as they expose users to fraudulent activities.
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