AI Systems ‘Can Be Weaponized,’ Warns Top US Cyber Official in Promoting Safeguards

Top cybersecurity officials are urging technology firms to bake safeguards into the futuristic artificial intelligence systems they’re cooking up, to prevent them from being sabotaged or misused for malicious purposes. Without the right guardrails, it will be easier for rogue nations, terrorists, and others to exploit rapidly emerging AI systems to commit cyberattacks and even develop biological or chemical weapons, said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA. Companies that design and develop AI software must strive to dramatically reduce the number of flaws people can exploit, Ms. Easterly said in an interview. “These capabilities are incredibly powerful and can be weaponized if they are not created securely.”...