Malicious use of Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity

Abstract

There has been widespread use of artificial intelligence in many areas and in our day to day lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the creation of systems that can perform tasks using digital technology (Russell & Norvig, 2016). They also have the ability to learn by taking a record of the patterns in their environment. In contemporary society, the high use of technological advancements has transformed the lives of people. For this reason the public have a certain perception of what constitutes artificial intelligence, the threats that come with it and their opinion about the threats. The public has been exposed to the use of artificial intelligence in their daily use of technology, some of which they are aware of and some of which they are not aware of. Just like with all new technologies, there are risks that come with usage. The government, through science, has used resources to mitigate risks that come with the usage of artificial intelligence, but there are always challenges and loopholes that cannot be covered. The major challenge is that artificial intelligence is a fairly new innovation; thus, many people are not aware of the risks that come with its usage. This study will thus focus on investigating the malicious use of AI, the extent to which internet users in public are aware of the malicious use of AI, and how the challenges affect their lives. In order to investigate the problem, a questionnaire was used to collect the data required for the study. 50 respondents were used, all of whom study or work at the University of Plymouth, as the university was accessible to me during the COVID-19 pandemic disruption. The findings of the study were that the public had little information on the malicious use of AI. However, their IT literacy was average and so they were aware of AI technologies. The study also found that they were willing to learn more about AI. Keywords: Malicious, Cyber, Cyber security, Artificial intelligence, Information technology,