The National Security Agency is starting an artificial intelligence security center, a crucial mission as AI capabilities are increasingly acquired, developed and integrated into U.S. defense and intelligence systems, the agency’s outgoing director announced Thursday.
The center will be incorporated into the NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, where it works with private industry and international partners to harden the U.S. defense-industrial base against threats from adversaries led by China and Russia.
China has in recent months stepped up cyber operations focused on U.S. and allied institutions that may include pre-positioning malware designed to disrupt military communications, cybersecurity researchers say. On Wednesday, the U.S. and Japan issued an alert saying Chinese hackers were targeting government, industrial, telecommunications and other entities that support their militaries.
U.S. intelligence and defense agencies already use AI.
The AI security center’s establishment follows an NSA study that identified securing AI models from theft and sabotage as a major national security challenge, especially as generative AI technologies emerge with immense transformative potential for both good and evil.
From The Shadows Emerges Knowledge