'Dual-Use' AI Poses New Security Threats

While the genie may already be out of the bottle, the rapid growth and broad availability of AI and machine learning technology along with a growing list of development tools is prompting critics to highlight future security concerns and the need to consider upfront the potential for malicious use of the technology. A report released this week by researchers in the U.S. and U.K., including members of OpenAI, a group that promotes "safe artificial general intelligence," urges greater consideration of unforeseen security threats posed by ubiquitous AI. Among the first steps is acknowledging the "dual-use" nature of AI that can be used for "public good or harm," notes the report released Tuesday (Feb. The study focuses on security domains as a way of underscoring the up- and downside of AI and machine learning, to wit: The same algorithm use to spot junk mail that ends up in your spam folder also has potential malware applications. The researchers argue that these malicious uses must be considered and mitigated before code is released to the open-source community or new algorithms are written and deployed.