Microsoft: China, Russia and Iran use OpenAI tools – 02/14/2024 – Market

Hackers backed by Russia, China and Iran used Microsoft-enhanced OpenAI artificial intelligence tools to hone their skills and trick their targets, according to a report published Wednesday.

Microsoft said in its report that there were hacker groups affiliated with Russian military intelligence, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and the Chinese and North Korean governments that were trying to perfect their hacking campaigns using large language models.

These computer programs, often called artificial intelligence, use large amounts of text to generate responses that appear human.

The company announced the discovery by implementing a blanket ban on state-backed hacker groups using its AI products.

“Regardless of whether there is any violation of the law or any violation of the terms of service, we simply don’t want these self-identified actors – who we track and know are threat actors of various types – we don’t want them to have access to this technology,” Microsoft vice president of customer security Tom Burt told Reuters in an interview before the report was released.

Russian, North Korean and Iranian diplomatic officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the remarks.

The spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the United States, Liu Pengyu, said he opposes “baseless smears and accusations against China” and advocated the “safe, reliable and controllable” deployment of AI technology to “improve the well-being common to all humanity.”

The claim that state-backed hackers have been caught using AI tools to help exercise their espionage capabilities is likely to underscore concerns about the technology’s speed of surveillance and its potential for abuse.

“This is one of the first, if not the first, cases where an AI company has come forward and publicly discussed how cybersecurity threat actors use AI technologies,” said Bob Rotsted, who leads cybersecurity threat intelligence. cybersecurity at OpenAI.

OpenAI and Microsoft have described hackers’ use of their AI tools as “early stage” and “incremental.” Burt said neither of them saw cyber spies making advances.