Artificial intelligence is “an unstoppable force” that is being weaponised in ways that fall just short of traditional warfare, Britain’s cyberspying chief warned on Wednesday (local time).
Anne Keast-Butler, director of the communications intelligence agency GCHQ, said Britain and its allies are in “a space between peace and war” as Russia increases its “daily hybrid activity” against the West — even as Russian combat deaths in Ukraine approach 500,000.
She said the West risks losing the conflict in cyberspace against Russia and other adversaries unless citizens, companies and governments treat cybersecurity with much greater urgency.
“I’ve spent three decades working in national security, and the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it,” Keast-Butler said in a speech at a World War II code-breaking centre near London.
She said that “tech companies are releasing AI-driven innovations at a remarkable pace, with untold consequences, as algorithms are weaponised often just below the threshold of traditional warfare.
