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The State Department is investigating an impostor who reportedly pretended to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio with the help of AI.
The mystery individual posing as one of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members reached out to foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress with AI-assisted voice and text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style, the Washington Post reported, citing a senior U.S. official and State Department cable.
“The State Department, of course, is aware of this incident and is currently monitoring and addressing the matter. 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. For security reasons, we do not have any further details to provide at this time,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.
When asked by Fox News about Rubio’s reaction to being impersonated, she said, “We’re not at a point here where I will discuss or portray what actions are being taken or his reaction.”
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“The secretary… is very transparent, quite transparent, and he’s direct with everyone. I think that any description of his reaction, of course, belongs to him. And I would suspect that at some point we’ll have that for you,” Bruce added.
She also said that “We live in a technological age that we are well enmeshed in.”
It’s unclear who is using AI to impersonate Rubio, but it’s suspected they are doing so in an attempt to manipulate government officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” the State Department cable said, according to the Washington Post.
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The cable reportedly said the impersonation act started in mid-June when someone created a Signal account with the display name [email protected] — which isn’t Rubio’s actual email address.
The July 3 cable reportedly added that the fake Rubio “contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress.”
“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the Washington Post also cited the cable as saying.
The impersonation attempt ultimately was unsuccessful and “not very sophisticated,” a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press.
Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.
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