Marco Rubio is reportedly being impersonated using artificial intelligence.
An imposter who used AI to imitate the secretary of state’s voice and writing style has contacted a range of foreign and domestic officials posing as Rubio, according to a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable obtained by The Washington Post.
The messages were sent to “at least five non-Department individuals” including foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a congressman, via text and the encrypted messaging app Signal, the Post reported.
According to a Thursday, July 3, cable from Rubio’s office to the State Department, the imposter was likely sending the messages “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts.” The messages began in the middle of June, according to the cable.
Marco Rubio.
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“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the cable stated, per The Independent. The cable also indicated that other State Department officials were being impersonated via email, per the Post.
The imposter reportedly created a Signal account with the fake email “Marco.Rubio@state.gov.”
An investigation into the incident is ongoing as the State Department “continue[s] to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future,” according to the Post. At this time, authorities haven’t determined who is behind the messages.
“The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents,” a senior State Department official said, according to The Guardian.
Marco Rubio.
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The official added that no further information about the situation would be made public due to “security reasons.”
This comes after another controversial use of Signal within the federal government, in which a journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a group of Trump administration officials discussing war plans in March. The incident, informally named “Signalgate,” called into question the federal government’s use of the platform to share sensitive information.