In news that should surprise absolutely no one who has answered a phone in the last three years, scammers have discovered artificial intelligence. Impostor scams now cost Americans billions of dollars per year - up nearly threefold since 2020 - and generate millions of individual fraud reports annually. AI, ever the helpful assistant, is making the cloning tools even more powerful.

Consider Jennifer DeStefano, an Arizona mother who in 2023 picked up a call and heard her 15-year-old daughter crying and begging for help. A man then took over, claiming he had kidnapped her daughter and demanding a $1 million ransom, later lowered to $50,000. DeStefano discovered her daughter was safe before paying. When she later testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, she described recognizing her daughter's cries and speech patterns - the committee identified her as the victim of an AI deepfake kidnapping and extortion scam. That was 2023. With rapidly advancing AI, the problem has only gotten worse, since all a scammer needs to duplicate a voice is three seconds of audio.

But scams are merely the tip of the iceberg. AI-powered digital duplicates called deepfakes don't require anyone's explicit permission, wading into individual privacy, personal security and corporate reputation. In 2024, following an AI study that received more than 10,000 public comments, the U.S. Copyright Office concluded existing AI-related protections contain massive gaps and recommended Congress enact a federal law protecting all individuals against the knowing distribution of unauthorized digital replicas. The office specifically noted the AI threat transcends entertainment and politics, reaching private citizens in virtually every part of society.

Creatives know the problem firsthand. From musicians to voice actors, professionals have grown increasingly concerned about generative AI stealing from them - stealing them - when they are simply trying to make a living. Whether it's James Bond or a Disney movie, AI developers are openly stealing copyrighted art, and it is wrong.

Intellectual property protections are just common sense - an 80-20 issue, if not even more popular. That's why The Alliance for Secure AI, which the author advises, recently launched "Creatives for Secure AI," rallying creative professionals to confront the AI question and protect their likenesses. People should have meaningful control over convincing copies of themselves.

Congress is starting to see it that way, too. The bipartisan NO FAKES Act would establish protections for everyday Americans regarding digital duplicates, essentially creating a federal intellectual property right to defend individuals from unauthorized digital replicas of their voice and visual likeness, protecting their privacy and livelihood. The underlying principle is simple: Your identity belongs to you. No one should have to worry that their face or voice can be copied, manipulated or used to deceive others. At a time when AI development is moving too fast for public policy to catch up, Americans deserve protections that match the technology of our time and the speed of its deployment.

How many stories like DeStefano's remain unsurfaced? How many artists, entertainers and performers will see their hard-earned identities co-opted by AI replicas without permission? How many countless victims of AI-powered overreach never get the justice they deserve? These are difficult questions to answer, but our leaders can start by legislating with common sense. The NO FAKES Act is one place to start, so we can see progress on an issue that affects Democrats, Republicans and independents alike.

The NO FAKES Act unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and is currently awaiting a vote on the Senate floor, but congressional leadership has yet to put it up to a vote. Our leaders must allow Congress to do its job and bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

Deepfakes are getting better. Scams are getting worse. It's time for humans to speak out against the steal - and for Congress to listen.

Nico Zviovich is an advisor for The Alliance for Secure AI, where he launched Creatives for Secure AI. He is also an award-winning film producer and the chief impact officer of MovieGoer, a film distribution and marketing company.