Many of us have heard the phrase “due diligence”; it means to take reasonable steps to avoid illegalities or harm.

Since the 15th century when the concept was invented our world has changed dramatically. But advances in AI today mean that what could have passed as “due” back then now constitutes a dramatic “fail”.

The reason is that criminals are using AI to commit crimes that involve deepfaking or faking humans and human content. This calls into question the fundamental premise of identity, which lies behind any due diligence protocol. From false identities to deepfaked senior executives; from AI-infiltrated market assessments to fake audio instructions, the age of AI demands a robust response from individuals in their checks, balances and vigilance.

So, if your boss, your team or your CFO is waiting to see if AI threat will magically go away, you can gently direct them to the statistics.

Generative AI could enable $40 billion in US losses by 2027—Deloitte
UK law enforcement lacks the tools to effectively tackle AI-enabled crime—The Alan Turing Institute
8 million deepfakes will be shared in 2025, up from 500,000 in 2023—Gov.uk
T​​he projected global cost of cybercrime by 2028 is $13.82 trillion—Sosafe
87% of global organisations faced an AI-powered cyberattack in the past year—The CFO
Deepfake AI market size will pass $3,889.8 million by 2032—Global Newswire

And in the meantime, get yourself a really good deepfake detector so you can double check that what seems to be, really is.