EU AI Act Welcomes Telecom Fraud Prevention Actions
The AI Act of the European Union, which took effect on August 1 on this year, introduces a new regulatory framework that imposes strict measures to protect citizens, requiring telecom providers to enhance their telecom fraud prevention strategies using AI.
In an interview with Telecom Tech News, Gavin Stewart, Vice President for Sales at telecom software company Oculeus, stated that the AI Act has significant implications for telecommunications service providers. These companies now face a 24-month timeline for full compliance, with some regulations set to take effect as early as February 2025, with Stewart emphasizing the importance of preparing for these changes, as they will require major adjustments in how telecom providers handle AI-driven fraud prevention and other services.
“Operators have only a few months to interpret the regulation, reduce it to actionable tasks and deliver the changes to ensure they are ready,” he said.
Impact of EU AI Act on Telecom Sector
Stewart also believes that the EU AI Act will set standards globally much like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), where telecom companies worldwide will have to ensure their compliance with the Act by aligning their business protection from telecom fraud with the regulations.
“The EU’s AI Act is basically about empowering citizens with additional consumer rights that directly impact what enterprise organizations can and cannot do with AI, and how they do it. Complying with the Act is likely to involve significant changes to organisational process and technology,” Stewart explained.
Trying to Stay Ahead of Fraudsters
According to Stewart, AI fraud prevention can assist telecom companies but also affect them negatively. Fraudsters nowadays are mostly using AI tools to do their scams, and telecom companies are also doing so to combat them. However, the fraudsters’ tools are being more advanced and harder to detect, which costing telecom companies high penalties. Hence, telecom providers will have to focus on fraud detection AI tools to overcome the challenges.
AI can find patterns in huge data sets that are impossible for humans to identify quickly,” he said.
The latest example of how the lack of telecom fraud prevention is affecting telecom companies, is Lingo company got fined of $1billion after carrying deepfake robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden.
AI to Prevent Fraud Scams
To prevent telecom fraud, Oculeus uses AI within its multi-layer system for telecom fraud prevention, by monitoring traffic patterns, checking calls at an individual level, and flagging suspicious activities early before things go out of control.
This telecom business fraud prevention can also block these fraudulent activities much faster and more efficiently.
Stewart emphasized that Oculeus’s AI tool and multi-layer system are set in a way to be compliant with the EU AI Act, by creating audit trails and human oversight when it comes to decision making.
“We equip our customers with the tools they need to meet the Act’s compliance requirements,” he concluded.
As the telecom sector is required to improve its telecom fraud prevention strategies to comply with the EU AI Act, many changes are required to be made regarding AI and fraud prevention to ensure the safe use of AI and providing a safer future.
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