Reporters have shown the ease with which voice identification systems used by government services can be fooled. 

An investigation by Guardian Australia has revealed that a voice identification system used by the Australian government to verify the identity of millions of people is vulnerable to AI-generated voices. 

Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) allow users to use their "voiceprint" alongside other information to access sensitive information over the phone. However, following reports that an AI-generated voice could access phone-banking services overseas, the investigation confirms that the voiceprint system can be tricked by AI-generated voices. 

By using four minutes of audio, the journalist was able to generate a clone of their own voice and use it to gain access to their Centrelink self-service account. 

Over 3.8 million Centrelink clients and more than 7.1 million people had verified their voice with the ATO. 

Services Australia claims that the system is “secure, accurate, and reliable” and that it continually assesses risks and updates processes.

The self-service phone system allows people to access sensitive material such as information on their payment of benefits and to request documents to be sent by mail, including replacement concession or healthcare cards. 

The journalist contacted Services Australia with details of the security vulnerability, but it declined to comment on whether the technology would be changed or removed from Centrelink.

Voice cloning is a new technology using machine learning, which is offered by a number of apps and websites for free or for a small fee. While the voice generated is better with high-quality input, a voice model can be created with only a handful of recordings of a person.

More details are accessible here.