The State Department has launched a full-court press, warning the public and public figures about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) impersonating those they trust.

According to a recent report, there was an AI impersonation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio used to reach out to foreign diplomats and domestic elected officials, as The Daily Mail reported.

The department said they discovered that an imposter was posing as Rubio and had spoken to at least three foreign ministers, a U.S. senator and a governor.

This comes at a time when the government has been in conflict about the use of AI and who should be allowed to regulate it, something that was heavily debated as part of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill.

The Scam

Those contacted by the fake Rubio were messaged via the Signal app, through voice mail, and by regular text.

“The actor likely aimed to manipulate targeted individuals using AI-generated text and voice messages, with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” according to the cable from the State Department.

Rubio said on Thursday that he found out about the current round of scamming due to a senator who said he received a fake message when the senator attempted to get in touch with Rubio.

However it appears that this could be an ongoing problem, considering the secretary said he was also impersonated when he first took office earlier this year.

More From State

After news broke about the issue, the State Department issued comments about how they’re coping with what could be an international problem.

“The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently monitoring and addressing the matter,” department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.

“The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously take steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

The spokesperson declined to offer additional details because of an ongoing investigation and possible security concerns.

Other Impersonations

The use of AI has exploded worldwide, and with it concerns about almost anything that could be imitated to the detriment of the viewer. This has been prevalent on social media, as well as person-to-person

And this isn’t the first time a high-level official has been impersonated. Earlier this year, Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was the target of a misuse of AI to deceive recipients.

Instances like these caused the FBI to issue a warning about possible malicious actors that might impersonate those they trust, including officials.