In an address to delegates at the Munich Security Conference recently, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that artificial intelligence tools could assist governments and companies in detecting and responding to cybersecurity threats. It’s estimated that cyber attacks cost the global economy $8 trillion last year, a figure that could rise to $10.5 trillion by 2025.
“We are right to be worried about the impact on cybersecurity,” Pichai said. “But AI, I think actually, counterintuitively, strengthens our defense on cybersecurity.”
Pichai’s statements contradicts a report released in January by Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the country’s intelligence agency, which said that AI would instead make it easier to cyber hackers to engage in malicious cyber activity such as ransomware attacks. Pichai claims that AI lowers the length of time necessary for defenders to find and react to threats.
Google announced last week a free, open-source tool known as Magika that aids users in detecting malicious software, also referred to as malware. It also is offering new AI tools, such as a white paper that proposes measures, research and guardrails around AI.
