Drones turned into missiles, fake videos manipulating public opinion and automated hacking are just three of the threats from artificial intelligence in the wrong hands, experts have said.
The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence report warns that AI is ripe for exploitation by rogue states, criminals and terrorists.
Those designing AI systems need to do more to mitigate possible misuses of their technology, the authors said.
And governments must consider new laws.
The report calls for:
- Policy-makers and technical researchers to work together to understand and prepare for the malicious use of AI
- A realisation that, while AI has many positive applications, it is a dual-use technology and AI researchers and engineers should be mindful of and proactive about the potential for its misuse
- Best practices that can and should be learned from disciplines with a longer history of handling dual use risks, such as computer security
- An active expansion of the range of stakeholders engaging with, preventing and mitigating the risks of malicious use of AI
Speaking to the BBC, Shahar Avin, from Cambridge University’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, explained that the report concentrated on areas of AI that were available now or likely to be available within five years, rather than looking to the distant future.
Particularly worrying is the new area of reinforcement learning where AIs are trained to superhuman levels of intelligence without human examples or guidance.
He outlined some of the scenarios where AI could turn “rogue” in the near future:
- Technologies such as AlphaGo – an AI developed by Google’s DeepMind and able to outwit human Go players – could be used by hackers to find patterns in data and new exploits in code
- A malicious individual could buy a drone and train it with facial recognition software to target a certain individual
- Bots could be automated or “fake” lifelike videos for political manipulation
- Hackers could use speech synthesis to impersonate targets
Miles Brundage, research fellow at Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, said: “AI will alter the landscape of risk for citizens, organisations and states – whether it’s criminals training machines to hack or ‘phish’ at human levels of performance or privacy-eliminating surveillance, profiling and repression – the full range of impacts on security is vast.
“It is often the case that AI systems don’t merely reach human levels of performance but significantly surpass it.
“It is troubling, but necessary, to consider the implications of superhuman hacking, surveillance, persuasion, and physical target identification, as well as AI capabilities that are subhuman but nevertheless much more scalable than human labour.”
Dr Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and one of the co-authors, added: “Artificial intelligence is a game changer and this report has imagined what the world could look like in the next five to 10 years.
“We live in a world that could become fraught with day-to-day hazards from the misuse of AI and we need to take ownership of the problems – because the risks are real.
“There are choices that we need to make now, and our report is a call to action for governments, institutions and individuals across the globe.
“For many decades hype outstripped fact in terms of AI and machine learning. No longer. This report looks at the practices that just don’t work anymore – and suggests broad approaches that might help: for example, how to design software and hardware to make it less hackable – and what type of laws and international regulations might work in tandem with this.”
The 100-page report identified three areas – digital, physical and political – in which the malicious use of AI is most likely to be exploited.
Contributors included OpenAI, a non-profit research firm, digital rights group The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for a New American Security, a national security think-tank.
Professional Overwatch player Felix “xQc” Lengyel has been suspended and fined for using a homophobic slur on a personal live stream.
Mr Lengyel was suspended by the Overwatch League for four matches and fined $2,000 (£1,433).
Overwatch League is the first major professional e-sports league featuring competitions in 12 cities worldwide.
E-sports team Dallas Fuel has also suspended him for the rest of the first stage of the competition.
Stage one runs from 11 January to 10 February.
During his suspension, Mr Lengyel will receive “focus training, physical training and support” from the team.
The incident occurred on 18 January during a live stream.
According to technology blog Engadget, Mr Lengyel directed a homophobic insult at rival team Houston Outlaws player Austin “Muma” Wilmot, in response to being taunted over a victory.
The Overwatch League said that his comment violated the League’s code of conduct.
“The Overwatch League takes standards of player behaviour seriously, whether during league play or otherwise, and is committed to responding swiftly when violations occur,” the League said in a statement.
Dallas Fuel also issued a statement, saying that it hoped that Mr Lengyel would be able to “improve as a professional player who is reflective of the principles of the Dallas Fuel organisation, his team-mates, and of the Overwatch League”.
The e-sports team added: “No one wants to see Felix succeed more than we do.”
The Overwatch League launched on 10 January, and according to Robert Purchese, a senior staff writer at video game website Eurogamer, is a big push by league developers Blizzard to “cement” Overwatch as a professional e-sport.
“Increasingly over the last year or so, Overwatch has been linked with and talked about having more and more of a toxic environment in its online community – not just insults only from rival teams, but also from teams insulting their own members,” he told the BBC.
“Because Blizzard wants the league to launch perfectly, they’ve come down hard on players, but also trying to show people looking in from the outside that this isn’t a toxic game.”
Trading insults is a problem affecting almost all online gaming communities, but Mr Purchese said younger people and women have experienced “the brunt” of toxic comments while playing Overwatch.
“Blizzard is desperate to get this stuff away from its game. It’s an impossible battle, but it should do what it can,” he said.
Although it wasn’t related to gaming, the incident of YouTube star Logan Paul posting a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim is likely to be in the minds of operators of online content streaming services, and making Blizzard and Dallas Fuel wary, he added.
However, since e-sports teams are “big-money ventures”, professional players should be cautioned about what they can say publicly, the same way football players are, said Mr Purchese.
“Football players tend to toe the line a little – they don’t speak out the way they do on the pitch,” he said.
“The fine doesn’t mean anything, but the four-match ban might hamper a team’s chances, so it might send the right message.”