Many of the world's leaders believe that cybersecurity threats may loom in the not-too-distant future.
NORFOLK, Va. — Artificial intelligence (AI) will surpass humans by next year, according to controversial technology pioneer Elon Musk.
Here are the latest predictions about the potential dangers posed by advances in AI. Many of the world's top leaders believe that cybersecurity threats may be looming in the not-so-distant future.
13News Now spoke to Luke Downing, a local technology expert and president of Norfolk IT company Mode5, for his thoughts on the current state of artificial intelligence.
“We are currently having extensive conversations with our clients about their AI readiness,” Downing said. “But it's really going to depend on the software applications that people use.”
Many of the applications Downing mentions are vulnerable from a cybersecurity perspective.
Cyber-attacks have doubled in the past three years, and advances in AI could allow threats even more insidious and dangerous than human terrorists to infiltrate the world's digital infrastructure.
“It can get out of hand if you're not careful,” Downing says. “There are stories about these two AIs communicating with each other and after a while creating their own language.”
Downing says there are ways to protect yourself in the short term by doing things you already know, including enabling two-factor authentication, which acts as a second line of defense, usually in the form of a text message, when accessing personal information online. It states that precautionary measures are necessary. .
But protecting ourselves from beings that may eventually become far more intelligent than we are is what Downing calls a “world problem” that requires a “world solution.”
“It's not a problem that companies can solve,” Downing said. “This is something we need to think seriously about as a world and as governments because AI will eventually start to learn on its own. I’m about to do it.”
