There has always been tension with the use of AI ever since its rise in popularity. Many concerns have floated around social media and crowds, which is why both companies and agencies have been hard at work to regulate it. Even presidents are anticipating its dangers as they are rumored to ban it for weaponry.
US, China President Against Potential AI Risk
AI companies are racing to become the most advanced providers among all the tech giants and startups that have AI products on the market. Despite that, the technology still has a lot of issues to be sorted out before anyone can say that it's flawless.
The consequences of AI misuse and malfunctions can already be seen now and are sparking criticism from the public, which is why it's not hard to see how catastrophic the outcomes are if AI is integrated into autonomous weapons.
Seeing how this can be possible, US Present Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are believed to be agreeing on the idea that the use of AI technology should be banned in such aspects. They are expected to reach an agreement in a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Taking place in San Francisco, the meeting will be the first in-person conversation between the two leaders in a year, as reported by Interesting Engineering, wherein the use of AI in weapons like drones and nuclear warheads will be heavily discussed.
With the recent tension between China and the US, this meeting could create points in which both countries agree. Furthermore, it highlights just how important this step can be if two countries at odds are willing to discuss the matter to the point of an agreement.
The Foreign Ministry of China stated that "the two presidents will have in-depth communication on issues of strategic, overarching and fundamental importance in shaping China-US relations and major issues concerning world peace and development."
How Dangerous AI Can Be
While AI doomsayers can sometimes present far-fetched ideas when it comes to the risks that artificial intelligence poses, some of them make good cases and serve as good warnings for what may come ahead if we're not careful.
There are already early signs of how AI has been misused in the last year since the AI boom. For instance, the technology has already been use for spreading misinformation across social media through deepfake images.
There's also the fact that they are used to clone the likenesses and voices of famous people as well, making it appear as if they were advertising products they've never even heard of. But, the biggest concern lately is the use of AI for cyberattacks.
As reported by Slash Next, an AI tool called WormGPT has been made available in hacker forums, which allows threat actors to conduct black hat attacks without much effort as AI will generate the malware for them.
This AI tool is not limited by guardrails that AI companies add to their own generative AI models, which is what makes it dangerous. Without limitations, hackers can use it however they want. All they have to do is pay for the access to WormGPT.
