Trends in AI Security

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being embraced and integrated into every avenue of our daily lives and the world of security is no exception. In fact, AI is fully transforming the world of cybersecurity and affecting our conditions for privacy, and even freedom of speech.

The more powerful these tools become, the more complicated the balance of opportunity vs risk is. Everything AI is evolving quickly, including cybercrime, sophisticated attacks, and digital defence.

AI-Powered Cybersecurity Defence

Cyberattacks seem to be increasing in frequency, not to mention also in scale and sophistication. In response, security teams are turning to AI measures to keep on top of any impending threats. AI-powered cybersecurity tools are used to detect anomalies of system usages in real time, identifying threats before they might escalate. It can also analyze data to predict cyberattacks and even automate its responses towards cyberthreats.  

Larger companies have been moving towards trends in AI security measures to replace their traditional use of antivirus software. Since AI learns from threats in a constantly evolving manner, it’s becoming invaluable to protecting sensitive online systems. 

 AI Cybercrime and Deepfakes

Despite the potential for using AI for good, the unfortunate reality is that AI isn’t just helping the good guys. AI deepfake scams mimic human voices and likenesses to trick businesses into losing money.

Automated hacking, another treat, can scan networks for vulnerabilities and create threats faster and more effectively than human hackers. 

All these threats mean that businesses and individuals need to increase their awareness of the types of AI-driven fraud so that they can invest in fraud detection tools for their own protection. 

The Privacy Paradox  

The collection, analysis, and use of data to inform responses are all crucial to the functioning of AI-driven systems. The paradox lies in the fact that, while this improves security, it also raises serious concerns regarding individuals’ privacy. Consider challenges such as the potential for government or private tech giants (Google, Meta, for example), to use AI surveillance tools to track and monitor individual users.

You might have already noticed that the advertising feels eerily personalized and targeted to you specifically. For any online uses that require storing personal data, security breaches (from AI or otherwise) is also a concern as the AI might have collected said data without your knowledge or express permission. 

To protect against these threats to privacy, global policy is considering stricter privacy regulations. The European Union, for example, uses the AI Act, which aims to limit invasive AI monitoring while still allowing innovation within the tech industry.  

Freedom of Speech

Perhaps the biggest question in this discussion is “who exactly is controlling the conversation?”. While AI can filter out misinformation and remove harmful content, it can also be guilty of over-policing speech or flagging legitimate debate as harmful based on political or religious bias. This censorship is problematic as it lacks human nuance required to engage in balanced conversation. 

While watching for trends in AI security, we should demand regulation and transparency to ensure that our human rights, individual privacy, diverse voices, and freedoms of expression are protected.