Artificial Intelligence is already affecting many aspects of our lives—and has been for decades. For better or worse, that’s going to continue. But as AI becomes more powerful and more deeply woven into the structure of our daily reality, it is critical for organizations to realistically assess its full potential as both tool and threat.
AI enables both good and bad actors to work faster at scale
The prevalence of machine learning in business makes it an appealing tool and target
The hype surrounding AI has the potential to obscure the risks
The scope of emerging threats is enormous and varied
New AI-driven security approaches will be required to combat AI-generated threats.
Part of the problem of predicting the real implications of generative AI technology is the massive, buzzy cloud of hype that surrounds it. Even the term itself has become something of a cliché. Want to fill an auditorium at a technology event? Put AI in the title of your presentation. Want to draw attention to a machine learning feature in your software? Market it as “AI.” This has the unfortunate effect of obscuring the reality of the technology—sensationalizing benefits and dangers while simultaneously anesthetizing many to the topic as a whole.
This is compounded by the fact that many—especially the less technical—don’t really understand what, exactly, AI is.
In simple terms, artificial intelligence is exactly what it sounds like: the use of computer systems to simulate human intelligence processes.
Examples: language processing, speech recognition, expert systems, and machine vision.
Computer systems governed by algorithms that enable them to learn and adapt automatically after they have been trained on a data set.
Examples: Content recommendation algorithms, predictive analysis, image recognition
A technique of machine learning that uses layers of algorithms and computing units to simulate a neural network like the human brain.
Examples: Large Language Models, Translation, Facial recognition
Content Authenticity
Generative AI has the ability to create highly realistic copies of original content. Not only does this present potential intellectual property risks for organizations using AI for content generation, but it also allows bad actors to steal and realistically copy all sorts of data to either pass off as an original creation or to facilitate other attacks.
We asked ChatGPT to lay out the top threats posed by generative AI. Here was its response:
Generative AI, while offering incredible potential for innovation and creativity, also presents unique challenges and threats in the realm of cybersecurity. Here are some key points to consider:
The features that make AI a useful tool for bad actors can—and must—be used to harden cybersecurity measures. Not only will this allow organizations to develop more effective and agile cybersecurity technologies, but better address human vulnerabilities as well.
Preparing for a post-quantum world
Identifying crypto-assets for PQC readiness
2022 Gartner PQC report