Innovation can’t solve cybersecurity. It’s an issue that is inherent to AI systems that can’t be fixed.
Comiter 19 [Marcus Comiter, Marcus Comiter is a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science at Harvard University. He leverages knowledge of the latest computer science research to study the public policy implications of new technologies, such as machine learning/artificial intelligence and big data, on cybersecurity and privacy. Comiter’s computer science research focuses on machine learning, computer and wireless networking (including 5G wireless networks), and security. His research has been published in both top computer science and public policy venues, and awarded a best paper award., August 2019, "Attacking Artificial Intelligence: AI’s Security Vulnerability and What Policymakers Can Do About It", Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/AttackingAI / AKwon]
The methods underpinning the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence systems are systematically vulnerable to a new type of cybersecurity attack called an “artificial intelligence attack.” Using this attack, adversaries can manipulate these systems in order to alter their behavior to serve a malicious end goal. As artificial intelligence systems are further integrated into critical components of society, these artificial intelligence attacks represent an emerging and systematic vulnerability with the potential to have significant effects on the security of the country.
These “AI attacks” are fundamentally different from traditional cyberattacks.
Unlike traditional cyberattacks that are caused by “bugs” or human mistakes in code, AI attacks are enabled by inherent limitations in the underlying AI algorithms that currently cannot be fixed. Further, AI attacks fundamentally expand the set of entities that can be used to execute cyberattacks. For the first time, physical objects can be now used for cyberattacks (e.g., an AI attack can transform a stop sign into a green light in the eyes of a self-driving car by simply placing a few pieces of tape on the stop sign itself). Data can also be weaponized in new ways using these attacks, requiring changes in the way data is collected, stored, and used.
Critical parts of society are already vulnerable.
There are five areas most immediately affected by artificial intelligence attacks: content filters, the military, law enforcement, traditionally human-based tasks being replaced by AI, and civil society. These areas are attractive targets for attack, and are growing more vulnerable due to their increasing adoption of artificial intelligence for critical tasks.