The US State Department said that he was investigating an impostor who used artificial intelligence to usurp the identity of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and contact three foreign ministers.
The unknown actor would have used a Rubio voice artificially generated to contact civil servants via the signal messaging application, according to a cable from the State Department obtained by the American partner of the BBC CBS News.
The cable said that the person had contacted at least five people, including foreign ministers, an American governor and a member of the congress.
The State Department said he was aware of the incident and took measures to improve his cybersecurity defenses.
The incident was revealed for the first time in the cable of the State Department which was dated July 3 and sent to “all diplomatic and consular positions”, reported CBS News.
The cable said that a false signal account was created in mid-June with the display name [email protected]. This account contacted at least five people.
“The actor has left vocal messages on signal for at least two targeted individuals and, in one case, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on the signal,” said the cable, as CBS reported.
The cable did not identify the individuals who have been contacted or what the voice generated by the AI of Rubio said in these voice messages.
“There is no direct cyber-menace for the department of this campaign, but the information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” said the cable.
In a statement, the State Department said that it was investigating the issue. He added that he “continually takes measures to improve the ministry’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents”.
The incident was reported for the first time by the Washington Post on Tuesday. The newspaper reported that the American authorities do not know who was behind imitations, but they believe that the person’s goal was to manipulate powerful civil servants to access information.
The Associated Press reported, quoting an American official who spoke anonymously, that cannops failed and “not very sophisticated”.
Secretary of State Rubio did not comment on the incident.
AI technology has been used in the past to pretend to be American politicians.
Last year, a false robocall pretending to come from former president Joe Biden had urged voters to jump the primary elections of New Hampshire before the 2024 US elections.
New Hampshire officials said at the time that calls “seem to be an illegal attempt to disrupt” the election and that they were investigating the issue.
