MAROKO133 Breaking ai: Experts Warn of AI Swarms Hijacking Democracy With Fake Citizens Te

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: Experts Warn of AI Swarms Hijacking Democracy With Fake C

AI isn’t all chatbots and meme generators. According to a new study published in the journal Science, it can also serve as a fountain of misinformation — and all it takes is for someone to turn open the spigot.

The new research examines the scale at which AI, namely large language models (LLMs) and autonomous agents, can be used to manipulate opinions on a “population-wide level.” The researchers point to a specific threat in the form of AI swarms: massive assemblages of autonomous AI tools that can ape real humans en masse via the internet and social media.

According to the researchers, available evidence indicates “organized social media manipulation has expanded from 28 countries in 2017 to 70 countries” today, in nations ranging from the Philippines to the United States, and plenty of places in between. Incidents of AI-driven misinformation in Brazilian and Irish elections, for example, make it clear that democratic institutions are already under fire from these kinds of threats, which researchers say are growing in sophistication.

“Fusing LLM reasoning with multiagent architectures, these systems are capable of coordinating autonomously, infiltrating communities, and fabricating consensus efficiently,” the paper’s abstract warns.

Legislating against that type of interference raises confounding issues, like whether propaganda botnets count as free speech. Indeed, some of these AI bot networks operate right out in the open as for-profit startups, courting millions from venture capitalists.

Even before AI, the emergence of a few unaccountable social media platforms had created the conditions necessary for large-scale misinformation campaigns to flourish. Even before AI, these kinds of campaigns have had devastating consequences in the real world, like the Facebook-enabled Rohingya genocide in Myanmar.

We’re already seeing previews of what AI-enabled misinformation campaigns look like in practice, often in the form of right wing actors stirring fury over welfare recipients or immigrants.

Whatever comes as a result of AI misinformation, it’s clear the path was laid years ago — and there’s alarmingly little political will to turn back now.

More on AI ethics: Tech Companies Are Using Insidious Tactics to Build Data Centers on Indigenous Lands, Activists Say

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🔗 Sumber: futurism.com

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Ransomware Negotiator Pleads Guilty to Deploying Ransomware

When a person or company is hit with a ransomware attack, it’s common to hire a third-party negotiator who specializes in handling the back-and-forth with the cybercriminals. In an ideal scenario, the negotiator will fight as hard as they can for their client and reduce the financial damages while keeping additional data leaks to a minimum.

In a staggering new criminal case, it turns out the negotiator was in cahoots with the hackers. On Monday, the US Department of Justice revealed that a Florida man named Angelo Martino, who had been working as a professional ransomware negotiator, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit ransomware attacks against at least five American companies.

For the uninitiated, ransomware is a type of cyberattack that locks down the victims’ access to their data or software. A successful attack can incapacitate critical businesses like hospitals and airlines, or clear individual people out of their funds.

In Martino’s case, the DoJ asserts he was purposefully providing attackers with information like insurance policy limits and negotiating tactics behind his clients’ backs.

On top of betraying his clients’ trust in negotiations, the DoJ argues that Martino conspired with two additional cybersecurity experts, Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin, to deploy their own ransomware attacks between April and November of 2023. One victim allegedly paid out about $1.2 million in Bitcoin, which was split three ways between the gang.

All in all, feds have seized $10 million in assets from Martino alone, including cryptocurrency, a food truck, and even a luxury fishing boat. All in all, he faces a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison for multiple guilty pleas.

More on cyber crimes: AI Tools Are Supercharging Hackers

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🔗 Sumber: futurism.com