I’m a cybersecurity CEO who advises over 9,000 agencies and Sam Altman is wrong that the AI fraud crisis is coming—it’s already here

ary·Artificial IntelligenceI’m a cybersecurity CEO who advises over 9,000 agencies and Sam Altman is wrong that the AI fraud crisis is coming—it’s already hereBy Haywood TalcoveBy Haywood Talcove Haywood Talcove is the CEO of the Government Group at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, where he works with federal and state agencies on fraud prevention.Will there be an "Altman's law" AI?Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesSam Altman recently warned that AI-powered fraud is coming “very soon,” and it will break the systems we rely on to verify identity

It is already happening and it’s not just coming for banks; it’s hitting every part of our government right now

Criminal networks are already using deepfakes, synthetic identities, and large language models to outpace outdated fraud defenses, including easily spoofed, single-layer tools facial recognition, and they’re winning

It wasn’t just people wearing masks to bypass facial recognition

It was AI-generated fake identities, voice clones, and forged documents overwhelming systems that weren’t built to detect them

Today, those tactics are more advanced, and fully automated

As I testified before the U.S

House of Representatives twice this year, what we’re seeing in the field is

Fraud is faster, cheaper, and more scalable than ever before

Organized crime groups, both domestic and transnational, are using generative AI to mimic identities, generate synthetic documentation, and flood our systems with fraudulent claims

They’re not just stealing from the government; they’re stealing from the American people

Medicaid, IRS, TANF, CHIP, and disaster relief grams face similar vulnerabilities

We have also seen this firsthand in our work alongside the U.S

In fact, in a single day using AI, one fraud ring can file tens of thousands of fake claims across multiple states, most of which will be cessed automatically unless flagged

We’ve reached a turning point

As AI continues to evolve, the scale and sophistication of these attacks will increase rapidly

Just as Moore’s Law predicted that computing power would double every two years, we’re now living through a new kind of exponential growth

If we don’t modernize our defenses with the same pace as nological advancements, we’ll be permanently outmatched

What we desperately need is smarter tools and infrastructure, not more bureaucracy

That means layering advanced identity verification, not just facial scans or passwords

It means using real-time data, behavioral analytics, and cross-jurisdictional tools that can flag anomalies before money goes out the door

AI is a force multiplier, but it can be weaponized more easily than it can be wielded for tection

Right now, criminals are using it better than we are

Until that changes, our most vulnerable systems and the people who depend on them will remain exposed

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