AI-driven automation of labor isn’t just coming for legitimate businesses.
Hundreds of thousands of workers—hailing from over 50 countries—are currently trapped within Southeast Asia’s sprawling scam centers, according to estimates by the United Nations.
But humanitarian experts think these workers may soon be replaced by artificial intelligence.
In some scam centers, messages initiating contact between scammers and potential victims are already being crafted and sent by AI, says Ling Li, a researcher and co-author of Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds.
“Time is ticking, because large language models may eventually replace even the subsequent steps of pig butchering scams,” she adds. (“Pig butchering” refers to a common scam variant where criminals build up relationships with their victims before defrauding them–like how a farmer might fatten up a pig before slaughtering it)
