(Toronto) Artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to surpass humans in cyberattacks by the end of the decade, predicted the keynote speaker at a series of lectures hosted by computer science luminary Geoffrey Hinton this week.

Jacob Steinhardt, assistant professor of electrical engineering, computer science and statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, made this projection on Tuesday, saying it was based on his belief that AI systems will eventually become “superhuman” when tasked with coding and finding exploits.

Exploits are weak points in software and hardware that people can abuse. Cybercriminals often covet these exploits, as they can be used to gain unauthorized access to systems.

Once a criminal has access via an exploit, he can launch a ransomware attack where he encrypts sensitive data or prevents administrators from accessing the software, in the hope of obtaining money from victims.

To find exploits, Steinhardt said humans would have to read all the underlying code of a system, so they could find an exploit and launch an attack.

“It’s really boring,” he maintained. Most people just don’t have the patience to do it, but AI systems don’t get bored.”

Not only will the AI take care of the drudgery associated with finding an exploit, it will also be meticulous in this task, added Steinhardt.

The expert’s remarks come at a time when cybercrime is on the rise.

A 2023 survey of 60 Canadian organizations by EY Canada found that four out of five had experienced at least 25 cybersecurity incidents in the past year, and experts say that some companies face thousands of attempts every day… Source