The rapidly developing coding and autonomous capabilities of artificial intelligence technology are opening the door to a new crisis in the world of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity experts warn that hackers equipped with AI can bypass existing security measures and pose a greater threat in the near future.

Hackers have begun using AI

This autonomous capability of AI is particularly concerning. A recent incident during the Russia-Ukraine war highlights this. Russian hackers, instead of a typical Trojan horse, concealed an autonomous AI program in emails to infiltrate Ukrainian devices.

This AI scanned devices and transmitted sensitive data to Russia. This attack, which took place in July, highlighted the dangers facing both internet users and government agencies.

AI not only makes skilled hackers more dangerous, it also has the potential to transform even the average person into an amateur hacker. Publicly available AI tools like ChatGPT reject malicious code.

However, open-source AIs that can be run on local devices can be modified to bypass these security measures. This means that millions of people could have their own mini-hackers in the near future.

Cybersecurity experts say this shift is the beginning of a new era. Heather Adkins, a cybersecurity expert at Google, summarizes the situation by saying, “This is the beginning of the beginning.”

But on the other side of the coin, AI will also play a significant role in cybersecurity defenses. The team Adkins leads at Google has already begun using AI to proactively identify and patch security vulnerabilities.

These AI tools have already helped close more than 20 critical vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the widespread use of AI assistants and agents could become “guardian angels” by alerting users to attacks like malware delivered via email.