--- title: Oh, cool. AI is expected to bring about a spam renaissance - The Hustle description: Advances in AI also mean advances in scamming, bringing about a new set of tools for gaining and exploiting subjects’ attention. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1054443341-19-News-Brief_2023-04-26T225219.637Z.webp --- # Oh, cool. AI is expected to bring about a spam renaissance ![Ben Berkley](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Ben Berkley](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/ben-berkley) Published: April 27, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 It can be exciting to know that people in every profession are looking at AI and imagining ways it can revolutionize the way they work — until you remember spamming is also a profession. ![Oh, cool. AI is expected to bring about a spam renaissance](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1054443341-19-News-Brief_2023-04-26T225219.637Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1054443341-19-News-Brief_2023-04-26T225219.637Z.webp) Think today’s junk-ducking obstacle course (say, repeatedly silencing “Unknown Caller” and hitting “Report Junk” on a half-dozen fake UPS delivery texts every day) is a headache? Keep some ibuprofen handy — you’re not gonna love the AI-powered future of spam. Enabled by generative AI, spammers will be better equipped to get their messages in front of people — also meaning their nefarious counterpart, scammers, will be better equipped to squeeze susceptible populations, [warns](https://theconversation.com/ai-generated-spam-may-soon-be-flooding-your-inbox-and-it-will-be-personalized-to-be-especially-persuasive-201535) computer science expert John Licato in *The Conversation*. #### **More tools, more fools** This [*How-To Geek* article](https://www.howtogeek.com/881948/how-to-make-chatgpt-copy-your-writing-style/) on teaching ChatGPT how to write in one’s personal writing style feels different through the lens of the classic “trick people into thinking their boss is emailing them” scam. And that’s just the start of the tricksters’ paradise ahead, per *The Conversation*: - Current spam filters will need to be remade; while AI can sharpen new anti-spam tools, it can also be used to evade them. - AI will help cyberpests better target individuals — able to more easily tap into subjects’ personal data (ahem, social media), spammers’ and scammers’ persuasion skills will magnify. Convincing voice and image generation add yet another extortion tool for criminals, as proven by [this AI-enabled kidnapping scheme](https://nypost.com/2023/04/12/ai-clones-teen-girls-voice-in-1m-kidnapping-scam/) every mom in the world breathlessly shared on Facebook this month. #### **Pouring gasoline on a nuclear explosion** Cybersecurity firms are [on the case](https://venturebeat.com/security/chatgpt-may-hinder-the-cybersecurity-industry/) and OpenAI is [agreeable](https://www.securityweek.com/insider-qa-openai-cto-mira-murati-on-shepherding-chatgpt/) on setting guardrails, but trying to stay ahead of (increasingly emboldened) bad actors would be an expensive game of Whac-A-Mole. Training models to register spam, expanding ID-verifying programs, and educating users are all resource-intensive work. And they’re up against a tough opponent: cybercrime is a booming, if mega-illegal, industry. If it continues to grow at its current 15% YoY rate, the global annual toll will hit *$10.5T* by 2025. Just goes to show: Teach a man to phish, you’ll unfortunately feed him for a lifetime. Topics: [Cybersecurity](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/cybersecurity) [Ai](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/ai) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![The world was already horrifying — technology is making it more so](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/457134246-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-tech_20231010211706.webp) ### The world was already horrifying — technology is making it more so - ![‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2028008005-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-AI-WGA_20230927223315.webp) ### ‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood - ![Getty Images’ AI play](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1235356694-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-woman-taking-photo_20230925214039.webp) ### Getty Images’ AI play - ![AI-generated foraging books seem dangerous, right?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1714231094-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-mushrooms_20230830223519.webp) ### AI-generated foraging books seem dangerous, right? - ![When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2069924254-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-bottripping_20230829215041.webp) ### When AI starts teaching AI, models may ‘collapse’ - ![CAPTCHAs get weirder as AI gets smarter](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/440738447-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-captcha_20230808232842.webp) ### CAPTCHAs get weirder as AI gets smarter - ![Using AI for the perfect fit](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/211713850-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-truetoform_20230807230535.webp) ### Using AI for the perfect fit - ![Big Tech’s thirst for AI dominance may bring literal thirst for everyone else](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1680278072-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Water-Usage_20230803223203.webp) ### Big Tech’s thirst for AI dominance may bring literal thirst for everyone else - ![How to make photos confusing to AI](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911911672-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-confused-robot_20230730235528.webp) ### How to make photos confusing to AI - ![Machine learning, explained](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/669213695-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-machine-learning_20230720214439.webp) ### Machine learning, explained Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ben Berkley", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/ben-berkley" }, "datePublished" : "2023-04-27T05:55:50.000Z", "headline" : "Oh, cool. AI is expected to bring about a spam renaissance", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1054443341-19-News-Brief_2023-04-26T225219.637Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/04272023-ai-spam", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ben Berkley", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/ben-berkley" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:25:33+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-04-27T05:55:50+0000", "headline" : "Oh, cool. AI is expected to bring about a spam renaissance", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1054443341-19-News-Brief_2023-04-26T225219.637Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```