US 'unprepared' to defend against new AI threats, report finds

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

The federal government is "unprepared" to defend the nation against new threats posed by the increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies, according to a report released Monday.

The report, compiled by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, recommended that the U.S. implement a "significant change" to keep up with countries such as China and Russia in the field of AI to address national security concerns.

"The United States must act now to field AI systems and invest substantially more resources in AI innovation to protect its security, promote its prosperity, and safeguard the future of democracy," the commission wrote.

"Today, the government is not organizing or investing to win the technology competition against a committed competitor, nor is it prepared to defend against AI-enabled threats and rapidly adopt AI applications for national security purposes," it continued.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-unprepared-to-defend-against-new-ai-threats-report-finds/ar-BB1e7WYK?li=BBnb7Kz

[demosincebirth]

1. We had four years to work on it

[tulipsandroses]

2. It is scary to think of the possibilities

While republicans are busy gaslighting and fear mongering about imaginary threats, they ignore real threats that may make us vulnerable. On a similar note, there was a report a few weeks ago about a hacker trying to poison the water supply in FL. That is frightening.

This hacker was unsuccessful, but what if this is a test run? Are we prepared for AI warfare that may be able to take control of water supplies? Electrical Grids?

I shudder to think of the possibilities. Meanwhile " leaders" are spreading bullshit conspiracies.
AROUND 8 AM on Friday morning, an employee of a water treatment plant in the 15,000-person city of Oldsmar, Florida, noticed that his mouse cursor was moving strangely on his computer screen, out of his control, as local police would later tell it. Initially, he wasn't concerned; the plant used the remote-access software TeamViewer to allow staff to share screens and troubleshoot IT issues, and his boss often connected to his computer to monitor the facility's systems.

But a few hours later, police say, the plant operator noticed his mouse moving out of his control again. This time there would be no illusion of benign monitoring from a supervisor or IT person. The cursor began clicking through the water treatment plant's controls. Within seconds, the intruder was attempting to change the water supply's levels of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye or caustic soda, moving the setting from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million. In low concentrations the corrosive chemical regulates the PH level of potable water. At high levels, it severely damages any human tissue it touches.

[link:https://www.wired.com/story/oldsmar-florida-water-utility-hack/|

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Oh. Ha. Ha. You trivialize a real issue. I think you better think again. . . . nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Read the article for the first time. You are addressing a different problem in a trivial way

Last edited Tue Mar 2, 2021, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

As to what you address, which is cyber intrusions, total shutdown that you suggest is exactly what the adversaries want to achieve.

You would hand it to them. You would shut down the power grid, shut down internet commerce, shut down the phone system, shut down medical information systems, shut down the water supply (a water plant was poisonously intruded cybernetically last month).

In the 21st century your solution is a big switch to shut down vast swaths of systems. No sense of cyber defense, no sense of graceful degradation, no sense of fail safe.

Just catastrophic shutdowns.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. "trying to talk"? I gave you discussion, with examples and elucidating the extremism

Your first response doubled down on your brevity. You posted a one liner and then another line which was a question "How is that not the case?"

Then when I answered your question and gave examples and discussion you accuse me of making it impossible to talk.



"Oversight" is a tad more involved than "A guy sitting at a big switch with a walkie talkie".

When you write "a big switch", you right from the get go are taking an extreme position: AI bad bad. If you have a more nuanced position, let the reader know right from the beginning. I didn't distort anything. You made an extreme statement advocating an illogical impractical course of action.

If you post an extreme one line post, people tend to take it literally because there is no further explanation, as if the writer thought an extreme position was clear enough.



Oh, and your counter point? It fails. The guy did NOT override it with an analogue system. He corrected it on his digital control panel, from what I gather and what would be an ordinary response, and almost certainly the ONLY response.

The days of analogue meters and valves to control complex infrastructure is long gone.

[LudwigPastorius]

4. We should "rapidly adopt AI applications for national security purposes"?

I've seen that movie.

...not a "feel good" ending.

[taxi]

5. Just about says it all

Eric Schmidt, the commission chairman and co-chairman of Schmidt Futures, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, urging Congress to adopt many of the report's recommendations in order to compete globally and shore up the nation's defenses.

"Right now, the United States is not playing to win," he told lawmakers. "It is the Chinese who are competing to become the world's leading innovators. Never before in my lifetime have I been more worried that we will soon be displaced by a rival or more aware of what second place means for our economy, our security and the future of our nation."

[Downtown Hound]

6. Paging John Connor.

[Evolve Dammit]

9. After Katrina, I realized how ill-prepared we were. You're on your own mostly. The threats are real.

And there are new ones that didn't exist at the time of Katrina, like AI or cyber warfare refined to what it is today. How about the C-19 pandemic, propaganda networks? Rising fascism? hacking? spamming? identity theft? school shootings? crumbling infrastructure? de-funding schools? voter suppression? re-kindled racism? climate change? species extinction? food industry safeguard cuts, soaring costs, increased poverty, bankruptcy from health care costs. On and on. All scary stuff, and no real checks on much of it. The last four years have made it worse. I hope we can start to address some of it. Not expecting miracles, but these are all very real issues.