On July 29, 2026, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing titled The AI Deception Machine: Deepfakes, Chatbots, and the New Frontier of Senior Fraud. Prior to this hearing, APA Services submitted written testimony for the hearing record (PDF, 156KB)opens in new window describing the role psychologists play in mitigating the risk of older adults falling victim to financial fraud. The testimony also summarizes current psychological research on the intersection of aging and susceptibility to financial scams. It features seminal work by Duke Han, PhD, on the neuropsychological changes that occur with age and how those changes might serve as early markers for susceptibility to financial fraud.
American Psychological Association. (2026, October 16). Mitigating the harms of emerging technologies that perpetrate financial fraud attacks on older Americans. https://www.apaservices.org/advocacy/news/financial-fraud-older-americans
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The committee’s hearing largely focused on the use of artificial intelligence as a vehicle for scammers to perpetrate older forms of financial fraud. Chairman Rick Scott (R-Florida) opened the hearing by commending APA, AARP, and the American Medical Association for their support of the bipartisan Aging with Artificial Intelligence Act (S. 4916)opens in new window, which commissions research on how AI tools, including chatbots and voice assistants, are impacting older adults.
For more information, email Andrew Strickland.