Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal warns of escalating AI misuse citing personal experience:' It was perfectly...'

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti recently revealed that a scammer cloned his voice using AI to con a senior executive in Dubai. He stressed that his replicated voice was convincing while warning about the future impact of AI misuse. 

Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, the Bharti Enterprises chief described the incident where a fraudster cloned his voice using AI and then called a senior finance officer in Dubai for a large fund transfer. He admitted that he was stunned by the accuracy of the AI-generated voice. “It was perfectly articulated, just as I would speak," he said. Further, he lauded the official who was quick to detect the fraud. “And anyone who would not have been vigilant may have done something about it, "he added. 

Given his personal experience, Mittal noted the future impact and danger of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He warned the society of evils of AI-related fraud and scams. "We'll have to protect our societies from the evils of AI, and yet we have to use the goodness of AI because those companies, and nations that will not adopt AI will be left behind. So this is a conundrum for every time you get a new technology into place, there are pluses and minuses. I remain very optimistic about the benefit of AI that the human race will achieve and be able to do jobs which are otherwise very difficult to perform,” he said. 

Further, Mittal underscored the advantages of AI in economy, politics and geopolitics. He remained optimistic about the use of AI for development while also suggesting vigilance and guardrails to be in place to protect society from its misuse. Meanwhile, Sunil Mittal became the first Indian citizen to be awarded an honorary Knighthood by Britain’s King Charles III for pioneering work in business relations. He received a KBE under the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire earlier this year.