October brings plenty of things that aren't quite what they appear to be. That person walking down the street may look like a vampire, zombie or superhero, but you know there's probably a perfectly ordinary person underneath the costume.
Online, figuring out what's real is becoming a little more complicated.
AI can create convincing emails, imitate voices and even generate realistic-looking video. The same technology businesses are using to save time and improve productivity can also make an old scam look much more believable. That doesn't mean your employees need to become experts at spotting AI-generated content. In fact, we think that's the wrong goal.
As it becomes harder to tell what's real simply by looking or listening, businesses need something more dependable: Good processes for verifying important requests.
Sounding Like the Right Person Isn't Enough Anymore
Imagine receiving a voicemail from your boss asking you to take care of something. You recognize the voice. It sounds like them.
Would that be enough for you to act on the request?
A few years ago, hearing someone's voice might have provided a lot of reassurance. Today, AI-generated audio makes that assumption less dependable. The same is becoming true of video.
Trying to teach every employee how to identify the latest signs of an AI-generated voice or video isn't a particularly sustainable strategy. The technology keeps improving, which means yesterday's giveaway may not be tomorrow's.
Instead, focus on the request.
- Is money being transferred?
- Is someone asking for sensitive information?
- Are banking instructions changing?
- Is an account being modified?
If the request is important enough, there should be a verification process that doesn't depend solely on whether the person sounds or looks right.
For example, that might mean calling the person back using a number you already know rather than one provided in the message.
The goal isn't to become better at spotting fakes. It's to have a process that still works when the fake is convincing.
A Well-Written Email Doesn't Mean It's Legitimate
We've already touched on this in our discussion about common cybersecurity assumptions, but AI makes it worth another look. People used to be told to watch for phishing emails with:
- misspelled words
- strange grammar
- awkward phrasing
- unusual formatting
Those clues can still appear. But they're no longer something you can count on. AI can help someone create a polished, professional-looking message in seconds.
So rather than asking: "Does this email look professional?"teach employees to ask: "Does this request make sense?".
- Would this customer normally ask for that information?
- Does this vendor normally communicate this way?
- Why are the payment instructions suddenly different?
- Why am I being asked to log in through a link I wasn't expecting?
- Does this request follow our normal process?
A message can be perfectly written and still deserve a second look.
There's Another AI Risk Businesses Should Be Talking About
Not every AI-related cybersecurity concern comes from someone outside your company. Sometimes it begins with an employee who's simply trying to get their work done faster.
Imagine someone has a long financial report and wants a quick summary. They open an AI tool, paste the report into it and ask: "Summarize this and give me the five most important points."
That's certainly convenient. But what information was in that report?
- Customer information?
- Employee information?
- Financial data?
- Confidential company plans?
And what happens to that information after it's submitted?
Employees are experimenting with AI tools because they can be genuinely useful. Simply telling everyone "Don't use AI" probably isn't a very practical long-term strategy.
A better approach is deciding:
- which AI tools are approved
- what company information employees can put into them
- what information should never be shared
- whether accounts need particular privacy or security settings
- who employees should ask when they're unsure
In other words: Give employees useful boundaries before they have to guess.
Good Rules Beat Good Guessing
There's a connection between AI-generated scams and employees using AI at work.
In both situations, you don't want your cybersecurity strategy to depend entirely on someone making a perfect judgment call.
If a convincing voice asks an employee to transfer money, there should be a verification process.
If a polished email requests a password change, there should be a process.
If an employee wants to put business information into an AI tool, there should be guidelines.
The better those processes are, the less pressure there is on an individual employee to figure everything out on their own.
And that's really the larger point we've been making throughout Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
Good cybersecurity makes good decisions easier.
You Don't Need to Make Your Employees Afraid of AI
AI will continue to get better. Some scams will become more convincing. New tools will appear that employees want to use. Businesses will have to adjust.
But the answer isn't making employees suspicious of every email, phone call, video or AI application they encounter. It's giving them a simple framework:
- If the request is unusual or sensitive, verify it.
- If you're unsure, ask.
- If you're using AI for work, follow the company's guidelines about what can and can't be shared.
- And if somebody makes a mistake, reporting it quickly should always be the right move.
Those habits will remain useful even as the technology changes.
Where Your IT Partner Fits In
This is also a good conversation to have with your IT provider.
Not: "How do we stop AI?"
But: "How is AI changing the way our employees work, and do our existing processes still make sense?"
At Literati IT, we help businesses throughout Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg and North Central West Virginia look at questions like:
- How are employees using AI today?
- Do they know what information is appropriate to share with AI tools?
- How does the business verify sensitive financial or account requests?
- Do employees know what to do when something doesn't seem right?
- Are the technical protections and business processes supporting each other?
Those are practical questions—and they're becoming increasingly important as AI becomes part of everyday business.
Let's Have the Conversation
You don't need an AI policy that's 50 pages long. And your employees don't need to become experts at identifying deepfakes.
But your business should have clear answers about how sensitive requests are verified and how employees are expected to use AI. If you're not sure what those answers are today, let's talk about it.
Call Literati IT at 304-296-8026 or visit www.literatiit.com to schedule a quick discovery call.
No pressure. No scare tactics. No technical jargon. Just a practical conversation about how AI is changing the way your business works—and whether your cybersecurity practices are keeping up.
