A report, written by 26 authors from 14 global institutions, has stated that the proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies could enable new forms of cybercrime, political disruption and even physical attacks within the next five years. Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at High-Tech Bridge commented below.
Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at High-Tech Bridge:
“First of all, we should clearly distinguish between Strong AI (artificial intelligence, which is capable of replacing the human brain) and the generally misused ‘AI’ term that has become amorphous and ambiguous.
So far, virtually all machine learning (ML)/AI algorithms are only as good as the humans who design, train and improve them. For a while, cybercriminals have already been progressively using simple ML algorithms to increase the efficiency of their attacks, for example to better profile and target the victims and increase speed of breaches. However, modern cyberattacks are so tremendously successful mainly because of fundamental cybersecurity problems and omissions in organizations, ML is just an auxiliary accelerator.
One should also bear in mind that AI/ML technologies are being used by the good guys to fight cybercrime more efficiently too. Moreover, development of AI technologies usually requires expensive long term investments that Black Hats typically cannot afford. Therefore, I don’t see substantial risks or revolutions that may happen in the digital space because of AI in the next five years at least. ”
