Ask HN: How to stay safe in the age of AI?
I believe the people who did this are people from the same country who live in the US and who have access to advanced AI via Microsoft, Adobe etc and have the ability to fake phone and video calls.
Assuming I have no money how can I protect myself and stay safe? From MITM as well as manipulation by AI? (obviously this may sound like something out of touch with reality to a lot of HN crowd who have never even seen a civil war, tribalism, blood feuds etc but would like to say I am very open about going to therapy I only mention this because I have noticed when trying to get support / reach out to people the first response is to assume it may be mental thing but what are the odds family members who were at specific events all answer >10 questions incorrectly?)
You should weigh the value of someone coming after you specifically. If there is nothing of value (you aren't famous, you aren't rich, you don't have a job that would be valuable to exploit), you may be falling into a mental ditch due to persistent and consistent trauma (C-PTSD). Re-reading your post, I see you have already considered this so restating this may have been insensitive and I apologize. With that said, the first bit is true: if there is nothing of value to you, you are unlikely to be specifically targeted.
The first thing to consider is leaving the country which I am going to guess you have considered and are unable to.
The second thing to consider is to become entirely numb and disinterested in others including your family members. If you are concerned about being persuaded to do something, choose to never be persuaded. Under no circumstances will you give money or help regardless of the pleas you hear. Under no circumstances will you answer emails or unsolicted phone calls. If you go this route, ensure that you have the option for not loading images in your email togged on or the sender can receive notifications you opened the email.
I've thought long and hard about the why and I have a few theories :- I made the mistake of telling an acquaintance that works for MS here in the US my sister supported a side in the war and that person is getting even, failed ROI people that spent ~550k on me (putting me through school as well as setting up jobs), blood feuds within my family itself with the side in the US trying to get even (my sister mentioned a while ago before the weirdness started there was a huge fight at a wedding), and last but not least I've offended or said something that has brought me to the attention of the US government (I'm a loner never participated in any groups so it has to be something I said). Once again I would like to emphasize everything, including screenshots that I have could be just a figment of a very sick mind.
But with that being said my question is more about how does one adjust to this age of AI if it indeed being used for nefarious purposes? Back in the day phishing emails and phone calls you mentioned were the only threat vectors now someone can clone someone else's voice with only 3 seconds, facial expressions and mannerisms with a single video, MITM can be powered by advanced LLMs so it doesn't even require as much human power to make someone's life a living hell. How does one survive something like this? Assuming for a second I am not making this up