Gillibrand Holds Virtual Press Conference On Her Fight Against AI Scams, Presses AI Companies On How They Are Protecting Seniors

Gillibrand Holds Virtual Press Conference On Her Fight Against AI Scams, Presses AI Companies On How They Are Protecting Seniors

Jul 30, 2026

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the top Democrat on the Senate Aging Committee, held a virtual press conference to sound the alarm about artificial intelligence (AI) scams targeting seniors.

Gillibrand discussed her letter with Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to the CEOs of top AI companies requesting information about safeguards on their AI chatbot companions for at-risk users like older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals in crisis. The press conference also follows a hearing that she held alongside Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) to examine the ways that AI has fueled an alarming rise in financial scams against seniors.

"AI has supercharged financial scams against seniors, making them more convincing, more deceptive, and easier to pull off. We must take action to ensure that our seniors are protected," said Senator Gillibrand. "I am working to make sure that AI companies are safeguarding their companion chatbot products to make them safer for older adults, and I am working on numerous bipartisan bills to govern AI development and protect older Americans from AI fraud and exploitation. I am proud to lead the fight for these reforms, and I will do everything I can to protect seniors from deception."

According to the FBI, seniors lost nearly $8 billion to scammers in 2025, with an average loss of $39,000 per person. This includes over $350 million lost in AI-related scams. Total losses increased by 59% from 2024-due in part to the increasing sophistication of AI technology. Cryptocurrency investment scams cause the largest financial losses to older Americans, with individuals age 60 and older reporting $4.3 billion in crypto-related fraud losses in 2025 alone.

Common AI scams include phishing attacks, where fraudsters trick individuals into revealing sensitive information; voice cloning, where generative AI is used to mimic a familiar voice; and image creation scams, where generative AI is used to forge documents and identification to make fraudulent messages appear trustworthy.

Gillibrand and Kelly sent their letter to the CEOs of nine top AI companies requesting details about how they are protecting seniors who use their AI chatbot companions.

Specifically, the letter asks:

• What safety testing these companies perform for their AI companion products.
• How the company tracks adverse events/harms involving their AI products, including hospitalizations, financial losses, or deaths.
• What types of safeguards are built into their AI companion products to mitigate harm and protect at-risk users like seniors.
• How the company includes older adults, people with disabilities, caregivers, and advocacy groups in the development of their AI products.
• Whether their companies provide independent researchers with access to data or tools to study the effects of their AI products on seniors and people with disabilities.

The letter was sent to the CEOs of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, Perplexity AI, X, Meta, Luka, Inc., and Character Technologies Inc. The full text of the letters can be found here.

This letter is the latest of Gillibrand's efforts to encourage responsible use and development of AI and combat scams against seniors. As ranking member of the Senate Aging Committee, she has led the fight to protect seniors from frauds and scams and demanded answers from those attempting to cut funding for agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). She has also introduced legislation such as the National Strategy for Combating Scams Act, the Stop the Scammers Act, and the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception (GUARD) Act.

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