Researchers express concern over AI role in cybercrime

Researchers working on the forefront of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have shared the same concerns with members of the public about the technology’s role in deception, data use and cybercrime.

This is according to a study published in Nature.

The study surveyed researchers globally, including in the U.S., India and China, comparing their feedback with responses from the UK public, previously collected by the United Kingdom Office of National Statistics.

In the survey, 77 per cent of researchers and 68 per cent of the public said that AI creates deception problem.

According to the report, 65 per cent of researchers and 71 per cent of the public expressed issues with tech companies using people’s personal date without their consent.

How people’s personal data are used to train AI models particularly concerned researchers.

The researchers said that millions of books and scientific papers were pirated and used to train AI models, raising concerns about intellectual property.

“ Only 25 per cent of AI researchers say that firms should be allowed to train their models on publicly available data.

“ And almost half say that people should give explicit permission for AI companies to use their data in training — a higher proportion than members of the public,’’ they bsaid.

Cian O’Donovan, the study’s lead author and an innovation specialist at the University of College London, said that what this meant was that researchers’ opinion countered some government’s plans.

According to him, some governments’ plan is to implement a mechanism for people to opt out of having their data used for AI training.

The study stated that for instance, the UK government was proposing such a policy for copyright holders.

Robert Trager, director of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, also shared his thoughts on effective regulation.

“We need to do an enormous amount of research, for instance to understand how AI systems can be applied to make cyber defences and information ecosystems more robust”, he said.

When asked how AI could have a positive impact on people’s lives, 75 per cent of researchers thought the technology would increase people’s access to learning.

In another dimension, researchers comprising 57 per cent said it would improve access to health care.

The study stated that the most striking finding was that less than one-third of AI scientists surveyed want the technology to develope as quickly as possible.

“They seem to want a more considered approach to development to mitigate risks,” Trager said.

However, these researchers were much more optimistic than members of the public about the future of AI.

The survey revealed that out of 4,260 scientists in the field, 54 per cent said think that the technology would bring more benefits than risks, compared with 13 per cent of the UK public.