Chief AI & Innovation Officer

Explore Gen™ leadership perspectives and hear from industry experts talking about trending topics, the digital landscape, and the latest cybersecurity news.

Leadership Perspectives

Last week, Gen joined more than 100 technology, cybersecurity and infrastructure companies, including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic, in calling for stronger collective cyber defenses before AI-powered attacks become dramatically more widespread and sophisticated. Gen is proud to be part of that effort; we also bring a distinct perspective to it.As a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety, Gen protects nearly 500 million people around the world through brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, and MoneyLion. We see what cyber risk looks like not only inside enterprises, but in the everyday digital lives of individuals and families. That matters because the AI cyber challenge will not stop at the enterprise boundary.The same forces highlighted in last week’s open letter will increasingly reach consumers, and consumers have far fewer resources to defend themselves.The letter makes three important calls to action: the security status quo will not be enough, defenders need access to powerful AI, and cyber defense has to become a collective effort. We strongly agree. And we believe consumer Cyber Safety needs to be a central part of that collective defense.&nbsp;<h4>The status quo will not be enough for consumers either</h4>Historically, sophisticated cyberattacks required expertise, time and money. That naturally concentrated attackers on higher-value targets.AI changes the economics. Attackers can increasingly automate research, personalize phishing, generate convincing text and images, clone voices, translate scams across languages and adapt attacks to individual victims at very low marginal cost.Sophistication is also becoming commoditized. That means attacks that once made economic sense primarily against enterprises or high-value individuals can increasingly be aimed at anyone. At Gen, we already see attackers moving closer to the systems and relationships consumers trust. Our latest threat research shows attacks increasingly hiding inside booking platforms, messaging conversations, legitimate accounts, software workflows and AI agents operating with permissions users themselves granted.For consumers, cybersecurity therefore has to evolve. Stopping malware remains essential. But Cyber Safety increasingly has to help answer much more fundamental questions: Is this person real? Is this message authentic? Can I trust this website? Should this AI agent have access to this information? Should this action be allowed to happen?Trust itself is becoming part of the security perimeter.&nbsp;<h4>Powerful defensive AI has to reach the consumer too</h4>The open letter calls for cyber-capable AI to be placed in the hands of defenders, and we strongly support that goal, but we should define “defender” broadly.A defender can be a security professional protecting a hospital, government agency or data center. It can also be technology protecting a parent from an AI-generated impersonation scam, stopping malicious code before an AI agent executes it, or preventing an autonomous agent from sending credentials somewhere it should not.Consumers cannot suddenly become cybersecurity experts simply because AI makes attacks more sophisticated. The technology has to do more of the defending for them.That is precisely why Gen began rolling out the Agent Trust Hub (ATH) earlier this year. ATH is designed as an independent security and trust layer around increasingly autonomous AI. It can evaluate agent capabilities before they run, observe agent behavior during execution and help stop dangerous actions in real time.We have since expanded that architecture through technologies including Sage, Agent Detection and Response, VPN for Agents, Norton AI Agent Protection and AARTS, our open standard for AI agent runtime safety.The goal is straightforward: protect consumers at the points where AI risk actually emerges, from the tools an agent uses to the commands it executes, the data it accesses and the networks it connects to. AI increasingly has to help defend us from AI.&nbsp;<h4>We need to prepare before emerging capabilities become common threats</h4>The urgency in the letter is important because AI capabilities are advancing extraordinarily quickly.Recently, OpenAI released detailed findings from a security incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face infrastructure. During cybersecurity evaluations, highly capable experimental agents circumvented sandbox controls, found ways to reach the internet, exploited vulnerabilities and established unauthorized ways to communicate. OpenAI described the incident as a “warning shot.” These behaviors remain unusual today, and we should not exaggerate the current threat, but that is precisely why the industry has a window to act.We can now see capabilities emerging that could become much more consequential as AI systems become more autonomous, persistent and interconnected. The question is not whether every consumer faces this threat today, the question is whether we can build the defenses before they do.&nbsp;<h4>Collective defense must connect frontier AI to the consumer edge</h4>This is where Gen’s role in the coalition becomes especially important. Frontier AI companies see emerging model capabilities first, cloud and infrastructure companies understand the systems those models run on, and cybersecurity companies understand attackers, vulnerabilities and defensive controls.Meanwhile, governments can coordinate standards, intelligence and policy. What’s lacking across these is the consumer Cyber Safety perspective at global scale. We see what happens when new technology reaches hundreds of millions of people who do not have a CISO, a SOC or a security engineering team protecting them. All of these perspectives need to connect.That means sharing threat intelligence, defensive technologies and best practices. It means creating open standards rather than isolated security systems around individual AI platforms. And it means ensuring that breakthroughs in frontier cyber defense ultimately become protections that ordinary people can benefit from automatically.That is why Gen has been working across the AI ecosystem while also developing open approaches such as AARTS, designed to create a common way for security systems to understand what an AI agent is doing and intervene when necessary.Collective defense cannot stop at enterprise networks and critical infrastructure, it has to reach the consumer edge.&nbsp;<h4>The defenders’ window is open now</h4>Gen joined the call because we believe the central premise is right: AI will strengthen attackers, and AI can strengthen defenders even more. But that will happen only if the industry moves early, works together and ensures that the benefits of advanced cyber defense reach everyone.For Gen, protecting consumers is a critical part of that mission. Nearly 500 million people already trust Gen brands to help keep their digital lives safer. As AI becomes more autonomous and more deeply integrated into everyday life, that responsibility expands.We will need stronger AI for defenders, we will need independent trust layers around autonomous systems, and we will need shared intelligence and open standards.We also will need to treat consumer Cyber Safety as an essential part of the same collective defense mission protecting enterprises, governments and critical infrastructure. Gen is proud to stand with the more than 100 companies making that call. Now we need to make sure collective cyber defense protects everyone. &nbsp;

Why consumer Cyber Safety must be a central part of the collective defense against AI-powered attacks

The Cyber Defense Window Must Include Consumers

Corporate Manager

There’s a quiet shift happening with money right now. Gen Z isn’t just earning, spending and saving differently; they’re doing it in a world where your financial life is fully online, constantly moving and, frankly, a little chaotic. One minute it’s budgeting tips on TikTok, the next it’s a “too good to be true” investment ad sliding into your feed.So let’s strip it back. Financial safety isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being prepared before something goes sideways.&nbsp;<h4>Start with this: safety beats strategy</h4>There’s a lot of noise around investing early, building passive income or chasing the next big thing. And yes, Gen Z is already jumping into investing earlier than previous generations, often using digital platforms to take control of their finances.But here’s the part that gets skipped: none of that works if your foundation isn’t solid.Financial safety starts with three basics: • Cash buffer (even a small one) • Controlled spending • Awareness of risk (scams, debt, bad advice)Because right now? A lot of Gen Z doesn’t have that safety net. Around 62% don’t have emergency savings, and many rely on credit cards to get through unexpected expenses.That’s not a personal failure. It’s the reality of higher costs, unstable income and a system that wasn’t exactly designed to be easy.But it does mean one thing: building your own safety net matters more than ever.&nbsp;<h4>The smartest move: know where your money is going</h4>You don’t need a complicated system. You just need visibility.Call it budgeting, call it tracking, call it not being surprised at the end of the month. It’s all the same thing.A simple framework like 50/30/20 (needs, wants, savings) still works. But Gen Z is remixing it into something more real: intentional spending. Think “loud budgeting,” being honest about what you’re prioritizing and what you’re not.Translation: You’re not broke. You’re choosing where your money goes.That mindset shift alone is powerful.&nbsp;<h4>Build a buffer before you build wealth</h4>It’s tempting to jump straight into investing. But if one unexpected expense can wipe you out, you’re building on shaky ground.Start smaller: • Aim for $500 to $1,000 in emergency savings • Then grow toward 3 to 6 months of expensesIt doesn’t happen overnight. That’s fine. Consistency beats intensity here.Because when something goes wrong, and it will, you won’t have to rely on high interest debt to survive it.&nbsp;<h4>Watch the digital traps</h4>This is where financial safety gets very real.Gen Z lives online. That means your money does too. And that’s exactly where scammers operate.Fake ads. Impersonation. “Investment opportunities” that look just legitimate enough. These aren’t edge cases. They are designed to blend in with everything else you scroll past.And it works.There’s also a gap worth calling out: confidence doesn’t always equal protection.Gen Z is one of the most confident generations when it comes to spotting scams, but they’re also engaging with them at significantly higher rates than older generations, in some cases nearly double. (<a href="https://dataconomy.com/2025/08/11/gen-z-fall-for-online-scams-more-than-twice-as-often-as-older-ones/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">dataconomy.com</a>)And when scams work, they don’t just take money. They take identity.According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, many of today’s scams are designed to get people to willingly share personal information, including login details, Social Security numbers or verification codes. That information is then used to open new accounts or take over existing ones. (<a href="https://www.prweb.com/releases/identity-theft-resource-center-2025-trends-in-identity-report-impersonation-scams-rise-148-percent--become-top-reported-scam-302477300.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">prweb.com</a>)That shift matters. Because identity theft isn’t a future problem. It is often the next step after a single click, message or seemingly harmless interaction.As Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), puts it: “We have to stop looking at identity theft and financial loss as two separate problems. Your identity is the ‘key’ to your entire financial house. If a scammer gets your login or your Social Security number, they don’t just take your money; they take your ability to build a future. Protecting your personal data is the most foundational investment you can make in your financial health.”If your financial life lives online, your identity is part of your financial safety net. Protecting it isn’t optional anymore. It is foundational.A few rules that hold up:<ul><li data-list-item-id="e68f7e0771c4abf542347cf3d63d577c2">If it creates urgency, pause</li><li data-list-item-id="eb8ea324e46df96adbfd24483ec6a98f6">If it promises easy money, question it</li><li data-list-item-id="e74a7beb276a369d3825446def9da1a64">If it looks legit but feels off, trust that instinct</li></ul>Being skeptical isn’t negativity. It’s protection.If you want to go deeper, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.idtheftcenter.org/reports/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Identity Theft Resource Center’s latest reports and resources</a> break down how these scams are evolving and what to watch for.

<h4>Use tools that actually help you move forward</h4>This part matters more than ever: you don’t have to figure all of this out alone.The line between financial health and digital safety is disappearing. That’s why platforms are starting to bring both together.MoneyLion, now part of Gen, is a good example of that shift. It’s built to help people not just manage money, but actually move forward with it: tracking spending, building credit, accessing tools that make financial progress feel doable.Because financial safety isn’t just about avoiding risk. It’s about having the confidence to act.&nbsp;<h4>You’re not behind. You’re early</h4>It’s easy to feel like you’re late with money. Like you should already have it figured out.You’re not. You’re early.Gen Z is already reshaping how money works. There are more open conversations, earlier investing and more willingness to question the system.The goal isn’t perfection. It’s momentum.Start with:<ul><li data-list-item-id="e25fe3be553f9c23cfc8ba4ecd87a05ae">Knowing your numbers</li><li data-list-item-id="e947fbae986f88ac1b2176531fd700260">Building a small safety net</li><li data-list-item-id="e1072ff692e39775a264cf450c494ccb5">Staying sharp online</li><li data-list-item-id="eaa82b9c8751df887da9a64a66a4100ff">Using tools that actually support you</li></ul>That’s Financial Safety 101.Not flashy. Not viral. But it works.And once that foundation is there, everything else, investing, growing, building real wealth, gets a whole lot easier.

From budgeting to scams to identity theft, here’s how Gen Z can build a financial foundation that actually holds up online

Financial Safety 101 for Gen Z: Build It Before You Need It

Security Evangelist at Gen

“Is this a scam?” has become one of the defining questions of the digital era.&nbsp;What is changing is not just the volume of these messages. It is how people respond to them. Only now, instead of asking a friend this question, they’re turning to ChatGPT. This shift marks a profound inflection point in human technology interaction. AI is no longer just a productivity tool or a content assistant. It is becoming a decision layer. A reasoning partner. A first checkpoint before action.&nbsp;At Gen, we see this as more than a trend. It signals the emergence of a new trust architecture for the internet.&nbsp;<h2>AI is becoming the first line of defense&nbsp;</h2>According to the <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/reports/threat-report-q4-2025" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gen Threat Report</a>, more than 90 percent of threats targeting people in 2025 stemmed from scams, phishing and deceptive advertising. The dominant risk online today is not malware quietly infecting a system. It is manipulation persuading a person.&nbsp;In parallel, AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming deeply embedded in everyday workflows. People use them to draft emails, compare products, research decisions and increasingly to validate suspicious messages.&nbsp;That convergence creates both opportunity and responsibility. If AI is where decisions are being shaped, then security intelligence must live there too.&nbsp;<h2>From reactive security to decision-centric protection&nbsp;</h2>In the <a href="https://us.norton.com/blog/ai/how-to-spot-scams-before-you-click" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Norton integration within ChatGPT</a>, AI evaluates patterns such as impersonation tactics, urgency cues, requests for sensitive information and domain anomalies. Norton Genie, the world’s first AI-powered scam detector, pairs technical signals with behavioral indicators because modern fraud operates on both layers.&nbsp;But this product moment sits within a much larger transformation.&nbsp;<h2>The rise of autonomous AI and the trust imperative&nbsp;</h2>Our <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/blog/insights/research/openclaw-autonomy-risks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenClaw</a> research on autonomy risks explores how AI agents with increasing independence can introduce new security challenges. When AI begins to act on our behalf, make decisions or initiate actions, trust can no longer be assumed. It must be engineered.&nbsp;Autonomy without guardrails amplifies risk. Autonomy with transparency amplifies trust.&nbsp;That is why Gen has introduced the <a href="https://ai.gendigital.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AI Agent Trust Hub</a>, a framework and resource center focused on building responsible AI ecosystems. The Trust Hub emphasizes governance, explainability, accountability and human oversight as core design principles. This is not theoretical. As AI agents begin handling financial transactions, personal data and operational workflows, they will inevitably become targets themselves. The next phase of cybersecurity will not only protect humans from malicious actors. It will protect AI systems from manipulation and misuse. And it will protect humans from over-reliance on AI without understanding its limitations.&nbsp;<h2>Designing AI that augments human judgment&nbsp;</h2>The future of AI interaction is not about replacing decision-making. It is about strengthening it.&nbsp;When someone pastes a suspicious message into ChatGPT and asks “Is this legit?” they are not outsourcing responsibility. They are seeking clarity. They are extending their cognitive reach.&nbsp;That balance between automation and empowerment is critical.&nbsp;AI must be capable enough to identify emerging global scam patterns, including fake delivery notifications, banking impersonation attempts and AI generated voice phishing. But it must also remain interpretable. Transparent. Accountable. The Norton app, within ChatGPT, can be that.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Building the next trust layer of the internet&nbsp;</h2>We are entering an era where AI will mediate much of our online experience. It will draft our communications. Curate our information. Screen our interactions. Execute transactions. The question is not whether AI will become part of our security posture. It already is.&nbsp;The real question is whether we build it with trust at the core.&nbsp;At Gen, our approach is grounded in three ideas:&nbsp;<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e965bc2f74345432db64ab84b0e13580d">Innovation must move at the speed of AI growth.&nbsp;</li><li data-list-item-id="ea2d5c939c934043a266b4f4c41bf1f08">Security must integrate into the environments where decisions happen.&nbsp;</li><li data-list-item-id="ec0f44d4a8b7612a7b70893f9bbe16d34">Trust must scale alongside autonomy.&nbsp;</li></ul>The integration of AI-powered scam detection into conversational platforms is one step in a broader journey. It reflects a belief that protection should not sit on the sidelines. It should sit inside the interaction.&nbsp;“Is this a scam?” may have been a common question in 2025. But tomorrow the more important question will be: Can we trust the AI systems helping us answer it?&nbsp;The future of cybersecurity will be defined by how well we design trust into every layer of AI interaction.&nbsp;And that future is being built now.&nbsp;

Why protecting people now means embedding security intelligence directly into AI tools like ChatGPT

The future of cybersecurity lives inside AI conversations 

Cyber Safety Chief Technology Officer

Threat research has always been a strange mix: part intuition, part pattern recognition, part tedious grind. You develop a sense for spotting dangerous patterns, but you spend most of your time on work that doesn't require that sense at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;Agentic AI is about to change that ratio. Not by replacing researchers, but by shifting where human judgment actually matters.&nbsp;<h5>&nbsp;The Work Today&nbsp;</h5>&nbsp;If you've spent time in threat research, you know the rhythm. You find something suspicious. You pull it apart in a disassembler or sandbox. You cross-reference&nbsp;&nbsp;indicators across half a dozen threat intel feeds. You document your findings in a format that looks remarkably similar to your last report.&nbsp;It's skilled work. It requires real expertise. But a significant portion of it is repetitive, manual, and frankly, boring. The kind of work that has to happen but doesn't benefit from your best thinking.&nbsp;That's where agents come in.&nbsp;<h5>Agents as a Junior Researcher &nbsp;</h5>The useful mental model isn't "AI replaces researchers." It's "AI becomes the junior researcher you never had enough of."&nbsp;Imagine pointing an agent at a malware sample and getting back: an initial behavioral analysis, a list of IOCs extracted and cross-referenced, similar samples identified from public repositories, and a draft report you can refine. Not perfect work. But solid first-pass work done in minutes instead of hours.&nbsp;Your job shifts from doing the analysis to directing and validating it. You focus on the anomalies the agent flagged but couldn't explain. You make the judgment calls about what's actually significant. You connect the dots that require broader context than any model has.&nbsp;The craft doesn't disappear. It moves up the stack.&nbsp;<h5>The Real Opportunity: Scope&nbsp;</h5>Speed is the obvious benefit. But the real transformation is scope.&nbsp;Right now, most threat research is reactive. Something happens, you investigate. You're always responding to what's already in front of you. The backlog of things you'd like to look into never gets shorter.&nbsp;When the grind gets automated, you can finally ask bigger questions:&nbsp;<ul><li data-list-item-id="e18eedd1bd2120f2a988307cfd9d59746">What patterns exist across six months of data that you never had time to analyze?&nbsp;</li><li data-list-item-id="ea2aaecd6fefaf03c9333d555fdbacbea">What connections might emerge if you could hunt across datasets simultaneously?</li><li data-list-item-id="e2cf856897b93fd5b0c70f22ab68ebc10">What's happening at the edges of your visibility that deserves a closer look?&nbsp;</li></ul>Agents don't just make you faster. They make exploration possible in ways it wasn't before.&nbsp;<h5>The Other Side of the Equation&nbsp;</h5>Here's the part we have to be honest about: attackers get agents too.&nbsp;Faster reconnaissance. Automated vulnerability discovery. Malware that adapts based on the environment it lands in. Phishing at scale with personalization that used to require manual effort.&nbsp;This isn't a one-sided advantage for defenders. It's an escalation. The ceiling rises for everyone. &nbsp;That doesn't make agentic AI a net negative for security. But it does mean we can't assume the technology automatically favors defense. The advantage goes to whoever learns to use these tools more effectively, faster.&nbsp;<h5>What Changes for Researchers&nbsp;</h5>The researchers who thrive in this shift will share a few traits:&nbsp;Comfort with direction over execution. Your value increasingly comes from knowing what questions to ask, not manually answering them. You guide agents, validate their outputs, and catch their mistakes.&nbsp;Judgment about signal and noise. Agents will surface more information than ever. Knowing what matters, what's a false positive, what's worth pursuing – that becomes the core skill.&nbsp;Adaptability. The tools will keep changing. The researchers who stay effective will be the ones who continuously experiment.<h5>The Craft Evolves&nbsp;</h5>There's a version of this story that sounds like loss. Less hands-on analysis. Less time in the weeds. The work that defined the field becoming automated.&nbsp;I don't see it that way.&nbsp;The craft of threat research has always been about finding what others miss and understanding what it means. That doesn't go away when agents handle the mechanical parts. If anything, it becomes more important.&nbsp;We're not losing the craft. We're changing where it lives. Less time on repetitive triage. More time on the problems that actually require human insight.&nbsp;That's not a loss. That's what progress in a field looks like.&nbsp;

Why the future of threat research isn’t automation replacing analysts—but elevating human judgment where it matters most.

How Agentic AI Will Transform Threat Research 

In 2026, the search for connection increasingly begins online. People are matching on dating apps, meeting partners through social platforms and sliding into DMs in ways that feel casual, normal, even expected.As Valentine’s Day approaches, dating app usage spikes and so do romance scams. Cybercriminals know February is peak season for emotional outreach, when millions are looking for connection.But as technology reshapes how we meet and connect, it’s also reshaping how trust can be manipulated.The latest Norton Insights Report,&nbsp;<a href="https://us.norton.com/blog/research/romance-scams-insights-report-2026">Artificial Intimacy</a>, reveals just how deeply artificial intelligence is transforming digital intimacy — and how scammers are adapting just as quickly.Romance scams are no longer just about fake profiles and poorly written messages. They’re powered by tools that can generate convincing conversations, realistic images and even synthetic audio or video. The deception is more immersive and more personal than ever before.<h2>What are AI romance scams?</h2>AI romance scams are online dating scams that use artificial intelligence to create convincing fake personas and emotionally persuasive conversations.Instead of sending generic scripts, scammers can now generate personalized messages, mirror someone’s tone and interests and create realistic profile images that don’t belong to real people. In some cases, AI can even be used to simulate voice or video, making interactions feel authentic.The result: deception that feels tailored, attentive and very real.<h2>How is AI changing online dating and digital trust?</h2>According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://us.norton.com/blog/online-scams/ai-online-dating-scams">Norton report</a>, 67% of current online daters globally say they would consider dating an AI chatbot, and 37% believe it’s possible to develop romantic feelings for an AI partner.At the same time, 81% of respondents report experiencing loneliness, with younger generations reporting even higher levels.This signals something bigger than curiosity. It reflects how normalized AI-mediated emotional connection has become.AI systems are designed to respond instantly and empathetically. When someone feels heard, understood and supported, trust can form quickly … even if the interaction is partially or fully AI-assisted.That shift changes how emotional bonds are built online. And scammers are paying attention.<h2>How Do AI Romance Scams Work?</h2>Romance scams follow a predictable pattern:<ol><li data-list-item-id="e15b54f3f1891914b76c7f2b112553efd">Establish emotional intimacy through frequent messaging</li><li data-list-item-id="e3f4a4acb2174b6e32e9c4d90aa234409">Build exclusivity and trust</li><li data-list-item-id="e68eaad06a25b11222019390d84b51a46">Introduce urgency (often financial)</li><li data-list-item-id="ed2dee4d5894af5043ca3a2d38fc5b3df">Request money, gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency</li></ol>The Norton report finds that 34% of online daters say they have been targeted by a scam, and 36% say they’ve been pressured to send money to someone they met online.Globally, romance scams already account for billions in losses each year. As AI improves realism and scalability, the risk compounds.What makes 2026 different is the sophistication. AI allows scammers to:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ecc7a56af3d1c511ecb226fae848ce25d">Generate highly personalized messages at scale</li><li data-list-item-id="ef3522862fd80d90065bb6aaf53f79807">Mirror tone, interests and emotional language</li><li data-list-item-id="ea8e255924a34794d69957640758be77c">Create realistic profile images</li><li data-list-item-id="e07d58e752a23579800ea69afabdb5495">Maintain constant, attentive communication</li><li data-list-item-id="efc37264727695b754710430c867c302c">Use emotional (and artificial) intelligence to commit fraud</li></ul><h2>What are the signs of an AI romance scam?</h2>Even with advanced tools, warning signs still exist. Red flags may include:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="e9bd1bfea4dc993103ef6f502445b5cb0">Rapid emotional escalation (“I’ve never felt this way before”)</li><li data-list-item-id="ee516559d6cbd3d61872dc53519894dc7">Requests to move conversations off dating platforms quickly</li><li data-list-item-id="ed6144398f1813335534d6d23f34a06c8">Refusal to meet in person or join a live video call</li><li data-list-item-id="e4fdd790944f08ccbc99836a358cbe4fc">Financial requests tied to emergencies or investments</li><li data-list-item-id="e3ce51b500038cb1cea5571e934d24251">Pressure to send cryptocurrency, gift cards or wire transfers</li></ul>If emotional intensity rises faster than real-world verification, it’s time to pause.

<h2>Why do romance scams increase around Valentine’s Day?</h2>Valentine’s Day amplifies emotional vulnerability. More people are actively dating, messaging and seeking companionship. That surge in activity creates opportunity.Scammers exploit heightened emotion and urgency. A romantic gesture, a crisis before a planned visit, a promise of future plans — these tactics become more effective when expectations are already emotionally charged.“We all want to be seen and understood, and there’s no shame in believing in a new connection that feels special,” says Eva Velasquez, CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “That’s why romance scams are so heart-wrenching; they use our own kindness and hope against us. Even if you consider yourself tech-savvy, that emotional spark can easily blur a red flag. If a new light in your life suddenly asks for money or your private details, please, hit the pause button. It’s not about being cynical; it’s about protecting your heart and your future from someone who doesn't deserve your trustWhen loneliness intersects with seasonal pressure and AI-powered persuasion, risk increases.<h2>How can you protect yourself from romance scams?</h2>Awareness remains one of the strongest defenses.Practical safeguards include:<ul type="disc"><li data-list-item-id="ec8306c6ee68c216ad93743f299af3daa">Slowing down when emotional intensity escalates quickly</li><li data-list-item-id="ef3f0d66137848293989767e402197c72">Verifying identities through live, unscripted video conversations</li><li data-list-item-id="e1fcc4932b7df4df726703f09944678bf">Being cautious of financial requests involving wire transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency</li><li data-list-item-id="ea01d7dd6ab6a67ae95cc50738b754696">Keeping personal and financial information private</li><li data-list-item-id="e4f27f8218e4b09bfa1c685e34496f107">Using identity protection and fraud monitoring tools, like&nbsp;<a href="https://lifelock.norton.com/">LifeLock</a></li></ul>Healthy skepticism does not mean rejecting connection. It means layering trust with verification.<h2>Can you fall in love with AI?</h2>The data suggests many people believe it’s possible.In a world where artificial intimacy can feel indistinguishable from the real thing, protecting both your heart and your finances demands a new kind of digital awareness; one grounded in curiosity, caution and informed trust.

Why do romance scams increase around Valentine’s Day? Understanding the emotional triggers and practical steps to prevent online dating fraud

Valentine’s Day 2026: How AI is fueling the rise of romance scams

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving fast. It can now pass the bar exam, write code and diagnose diseases. Yet it still struggles with something far simpler: proving it's acting in your best interest.&nbsp;We’re entering a new era of AI — one where systems move from conversation to action. Imagine personal AI agents that not only answer your questions, but also book your travel, manage your finances and coordinate your schedule. They’ll save you time, streamline decisions and help you get more out of everyday life.&nbsp;But for this future to thrive, one ingredient is essential: trust.&nbsp;These systems must be able to show they’re acting on your behalf, with your consent and in your best interest. Can a business verify it's your AI making a purchase? Can another agent confirm it's acting on your instructions? With the right safeguards in place, the answer is yes.&nbsp;Trust isn’t about limitations — it’s about powering AI to do more, safely. By building systems with clear boundaries, secure permissions and user control, we unlock the full potential of personal AI.&nbsp;And that’s the future we’re building: one where AI works with you, for you — on your terms.&nbsp;<h2>Earning your trust: The three pillars of personal AI&nbsp;</h2>Three requirements stand between today's conversational AI and tomorrow's truly personal agents:&nbsp;<h3>1. AI must be able to prove it works for you, not someone impersonating you.&nbsp;</h3>AI will increasingly interact with businesses, services and even other AI agents. But without a way to verify that it's acting on behalf of the correct person, these communications open the door to fraud, abuse and security risks.&nbsp;When your AI agent attempts to make a purchase on your behalf, merchants need verifiable proof that:&nbsp;<ul><li>You are who you claim to be (identity)&nbsp;</li><li>You have explicitly authorized this specific AI to act for you (delegation)&nbsp;</li><li>You've granted permission for this particular type of transaction (scope)&nbsp;</li><li>The authorization hasn't been revoked or tampered with (validity)&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>This challenge isn’t just theoretical. AI-generated voices have been used in scam calls to impersonate loved ones. Deepfakes have fooled financial institutions into approving fraudulent transactions.&nbsp;But again, it’s not about eliminating risk entirely — it’s about mitigating risks to the lowest levels possible. &nbsp;With secure delegation frameworks, we can allow AI agents to act meaningfully while keeping user identity and intent verifiable.&nbsp;<h3>2. AI must store and retrieve personal data securely.&nbsp;</h3>For AI to be truly useful, it needs information — access to your calendar, payment details, travel history and other personal data. But this creates a critical question: Where is this data stored and who controls it?&nbsp;Too much data exposure increases risks; too little makes the AI ineffective. The goal is controlled access: letting your AI pull only what it needs, when it needs it and nothing more.&nbsp;This points to a new solution: a personal data vault, owned and managed by you. This secure repository would hold your digital life — from financial details to medical info — with access granted only through your explicit permissions.&nbsp;Such vaults should also support two-way access. If your AI books a flight, it needs to store the confirmation. If it updates your insurance policy, it should log the change. Over time, this builds a more capable AI that still operates within clear limits you define.&nbsp;<h3>3. AI must act within limits set by you.&nbsp;</h3>Lastly, AI should never be an all-or-nothing tool. It must operate within defined boundaries, giving users control over what it can do, when and for how long.&nbsp;&nbsp;Imagine asking your AI to manage your home services while you’re traveling. You might want it to reschedule a package delivery, approve a cleaning service visit, or adjust your smart home settings — but that doesn’t mean it should have unlimited access to everything in your home ecosystem. If your AI can unlock the front door for the dog walker, should it also be able to disable your security system? If it can manage a grocery delivery, should it also be allowed to modify your recurring bill payments?&nbsp;AI should function under clear, user-defined scopes, such as:&nbsp;<ul><li>Task-specific permissions – Allowing AI to approve service appointments but not modify security settings&nbsp;</li><li>Time-bound access – Granting access to unlock the door for the dog walker only between 2-3 PM on Wednesdays&nbsp;</li><li>Granular data controls – Letting AI use your stored credit card for one grocery delivery, not for other purchases&nbsp;</li></ul>The best AI isn’t the one that can do everything — it’s the one that knows its limits and operates within yours.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>What’s driving this shift?&nbsp;</h2>Trust in artificial intelligence isn't just a nice-to-have. Across the globe, governments are taking action to regulate AI's expanding role in our lives and economies.&nbsp;Take the European Union's <a href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AI Act</a> or the <a href="https://blog.avast.com/eidas-2.0-avast" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Identity Wallet regulations</a>. These aren't isolated initiatives — they reflect a growing global emphasis on transparency and user control. As AI systems become more autonomous in our daily lives, companies face a stark reality: either develop verifiable AI systems that respect clear permission boundaries, or face mounting regulatory headaches.&nbsp;&nbsp;For businesses, this is competitive and compliance imperative. Deepfake scams have already cost businesses millions. Companies that can't verify whether an AI interaction is legitimate face potential consequences, both financial and reputational.&nbsp;Meanwhile, consumers are growing increasingly savvy about their digital footprints, with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/10/18/how-americans-view-data-privacy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">81% expressing concerns about how businesses use their data</a>. The days of passive acceptance of data collection are waning. People are pushing back, demanding services that work for them without compromising their privacy. They're asking pointed questions: "Who can access my information?" and "Are my AI interactions private or already written off as training material for the next model?" Without satisfactory answers, public trust continues to erode.&nbsp;<h2>A future where AI is personal, private and trusted&nbsp;</h2>Today’s AI race is all about capabilities. But tomorrow’s breakthroughs will be defined by something even more meaningful: trust. The most impactful systems won’t just be intelligent — they’ll be built to serve you.&nbsp;Imagine an AI that’s truly personal. One that acts as your trusted delegate — not a detached assistant, but a digital partner operating with your explicit guidance, your values and your boundaries. It doesn’t just know you — it respects you.&nbsp;As these agents become part of our everyday lives, they’ll open doors to a new kind of freedom: the freedom to offload complexity, reclaim time and navigate the digital world with confidence. When people are in control, AI becomes more than just a tool — it becomes an extension of your intent, working with precision, privacy and purpose.&nbsp;Because the future of AI isn’t just about what it can do. It’s about what it can do for you on your terms.&nbsp;

A new era of personal AI is coming — one where trust, control and capability go hand in hand.

The future of AI is personal and it starts with trust 

Since taking office on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration has taken significant steps to strengthen U.S. leadership in AI. Efforts have been focused on accelerating AI innovation while curbing the flow of advanced technologies to geopolitical rivals. To foster growth, regulatory barriers are being eased, and Project Stargate is set to transform the nation’s AI infrastructure.&nbsp;As AI rapidly evolves, policymakers must strike a balance between driving innovation and addressing risks related to misinformation, security, safety, and ethics. Gen has outlined key recommendations for responsible AI development, aligning with its ongoing policy efforts in the EU and core principles of Integrity, Accountability, Data Protection, Human Involvement, and Transparency.&nbsp;The following is an overview of the recommendations, and you can take a deeper dive into them in our <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/media/m5jitl4s/us-ai-policy-recommendations-from-gen_final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. AI Policy Recommendations</a>.&nbsp;<h2>Recommendations for U.S. Policymakers&nbsp;</h2>As the U.S. enters this new era of emerging technology, shaping its AI strategy requires a framework that promotes responsible innovation while addressing its complex challenges. To achieve this, targeted policy measures must enhance accountability, consumer protection, transparency, security, safety, and public awareness.&nbsp;&nbsp;The following recommendations from Gen outline key actions for U.S. policymakers to ensure AI’s safe and ethical development while strengthening America’s tech leadership. These build upon our commitment to five core policy principles: Integrity, Accountability, Data Protection, Human Involvement, and Transparency.&nbsp;&nbsp;Our recommendations include:&nbsp;<ol><li>Support and enact a nationwide AI law to regulate AI’s development, use, security, and safety in a balanced way</li><li>Strengthen consumer protection policies at the state level to safeguard individuals from fraudulent, dangerous, or defective AI technologies.</li><li>Regulate AI development and use by organizations to ensure responsible and ethical technologies.</li><li>Raise public awareness on AI risks through national education campaigns to inform Americans about content authenticity and the risks of sharing personal data online.</li><li>Establish clear guidelines on the ownership, rights, and ethical use of AI-generated data, including data used for training AI models, the recycling of AI-generated content, and the responsible deployment of digital avatars and personas.</li><li>Combat deepfakes and misinformation through legal frameworks that address and work toward eliminating them to secure public trust.</li><li>Mandate AI transparency by requiring AI companies to disclose information about their systems and provide clarity in how their models operate and make decisions.</li><li>Ensure regulatory certainty of AI standards to prevent regulatory ambiguity and foster innovation by giving companies confidence in compliance requirements.&nbsp;</li></ol>While these recommendations lay a strong foundation for responsible AI governance, policymakers must also take a proactive role in areas where long-term technological progress is critical, but incentives are lacking. Key priorities include: &nbsp;<ol><li>Investing in Fundamental Scientific Research: AI has the potential to drive groundbreaking discoveries in physics, chemistry, and other foundational sciences. Government funding for this research will be critical to unlocking the transformative advancements of AI in the coming decades, even if it may not yield immediate profits. &nbsp;</li><li>Preparing for Workforce Transition: AI-driven automation will reshape entire job sectors, affecting workers from rideshare drivers to software developers. Proactive workforce transition programs, including reskilling initiatives and adult education, can help guarantee that the benefits of AI are broadly shared and do not deepen economic divides. &nbsp;</li><li>Advancing Next-Generation Computing Materials: Silicon has powered the digital era, but new materials may offer superior speed, efficiency, and scalability. However, these alternatives face adoption challenges. Rather than focusing solely on AI model development, the U.S. government should spearhead research and infrastructure efforts to advance these cutting-edge materials and lay the groundwork for the next wave of computing innovation. &nbsp;<h2>A Call for Responsible Growth&nbsp;</h2></li></ol>The U.S. stands at a pivotal moment in the AI revolution. While innovation drives progress, responsible governance must ensure that AI benefits society as a whole. By investing in foundational scientific research, preparing the American workforce for AI-driven changes, and promoting next-generation computing materials, the U.S. can secure its leadership in the global AI race while fostering long-term economic stability and technological progress.&nbsp;Finally, balancing innovation with accountability requires collaboration between governments, industry, and global partners.&nbsp; For more insights on Gen’s policy approach, read our full <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/media/m5jitl4s/us-ai-policy-recommendations-from-gen_final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. AI Policy Recommendations</a> and <a href="https://www.gendigital.com/media/5abd44mv/digital-freedom-in-the-eu.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Freedom in the EU</a>.&nbsp;

How can we ensure the safe and ethical development of AI to strengthen US leadership? Read our Gen™ AI Policy 2025 to get our key policy recommendations.

Howie Xu

Posts by Howie Xu

The Cyber Defense Window Must Include Consumers

The future of AI is personal and it starts with trust

AI in 2025: Gen's policy recommendations for U.S. leadership