As the famous saying goes, the terrorists only have to be right once to succeed while we have to be right every time in order to stop them. That job is now much more difficult, thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). A new international report warns about the growing threat of AI terrorism. Experts say the limitless possibilities with AI could be exploited by terrorists in a variety of ways, from targeting vulnerable people for radicalization, to carrying out attacks on critical infrastructure like computer systems, the power grid, or the water supply.
The rapid rise of AI in nearly every aspect of life has confounded experts and the public alike. But like every new technological advancement, it can either be a benefit to our lives in the right hands, or extremely dangerous in the wrong ones. "With AI, you could imitate government officials or people who work at power plants and instruct them to do things that would cause major disruption of our critical services, or (terrorists) could use it for recruiting or radicalizing," says Jeff Addicott, director of the Warrior Defense Project at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. "So it's just truly a devil's playground that we haven't really got our heads around yet."
Combating and ultimately preventing this AI terror threat is a unique challenge. Addicott notes that most AI is controlled by the private sector, so those companies will need to take the lead over the government in safeguarding this burgeoning technology. "Probably the best way to blunt it is to get AI to watch the AI," says Addicott. "Because AI technology can outthink and outperform humans, so you almost have to have an AI to regulate when terrorists try to use AI for these untoward purposes...that is the challenge."
"We need to ramp up AI to thwart the misuse of AI," he continues. "So it's an arms race."
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