Security chiefs and hackers race to benefit from AI prize

Humans have so far failed to keep up with the scale and sophistication of cyber attacks -- so security companies are now starting to put their faith in artificial intelligence to protect networks from hackers. From Apple to Twitter, tech companies are snapping up artificial intelligence start-ups and using the technology to do everything from predicting customer behaviour to interacting with users via virtual personal assistants. For security companies, the growth of more sophisticated artificial intelligence promises the opportunity to catch up with hackers, who experts say have the upper hand. For example, as the industry struggles to find qualified engineers, many companies are turning to artificial intelligence to supplement their workforces. Tomer Weingarten, chief executive at security software provider SentinelOne, says cyber security is one of artificial intelligence's most promising applications. "It can look at all the behaviours and interactions that happen on a given machine, the malware [cyber attack software], what happens when someone is attacking you, to learn what'badness' looks like, how an attacker behaves and what they will do once they try to compromise the device," he says.