AI ‘supercharging’ cyber threats, MI5 chief warns

Artificial intelligence (AI) is “supercharging” cybersecurity threats, the chief of the MI5 has said.

Delivering his annual threat update, Sir Ken McCallum said the organisation was focussing on improving technological resilience in the face of new AI capabilities.

He said AI was already being used by terrorists to create tailored “radicalising material”, while AI-enabled drones were also adding to the threat.

And he warned AI could be used to “change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons” – though he added this was “not yet realised”.

MI5 has launched a new AI Threat Assessment Centre which brings together a number of security bodies to help “separate the bluster from the realities”.

McCallum said: “Today AI is already supercharging the cybersecurity contest between attackers and defenders. It can produce propaganda and radicalising material tailored to the individual. We’ve caught terrorists seeking to exploit AI to improve their reconnaissance and attack methodologies, with AI-enabled drones adding a new twist. Not yet realised – but the misuse case to which I’d attach greatest weight – is AI’s potential to change the stakes on existing or even new bioweapons. 

“These risks are real. The UK Intelligence Community – MI5, GCHQ and MI6 – is working closely with the UK’s globally respected AI Security Institute to take them on. Part of that means retaining the capability edge against those who mean the UK harm.

“As they seek to harness AI, we must stay ahead, so these powerful technologies bolster rather than undermine our shared security.”

He also announced a new “core mission” for MI5 dubbed “Protect” – designed to improve national resilience in a “new era of national security”.

As well as technological resilience, McCallum said this would involve improving “societal resilience” to stop malign actors who seek to “divide our communities and turn us against one another”, as well as “systemic resilience” for critical infrastructure.

He urged people who work on such infrastructure, or in sectors like energy or defence, to ensure they followed key guidance on combatting sabotage, drones and cyber.

The threat of AI as a risk in and of itself was also mentioned, with McCallum saying the matter required “serious attention”.

His comments follow a series of high-profile statements from insiders in the industry calling for more regulation of the technology.