Subra Kumaraswamy, senior vice president and chief information security officer of Visa, said that in 12 to 18 months, generative AI will impact every sector, including crime.
“Generative AI is going to be applicable to every function and industry – healthcare, financial, education, entertainment – hence the opportunity for bad actors because they can also use AI in the same way,” Kumaraswamy told The National.
Kumaraswamy pointed to the cost of generative AI as a source of good and bad. It makes it very accessible.
“It's a difficult problem because you don't know who's accessing your services. It's going to be very hard to differentiate if a person is using it for good or ethical use – but the fact of the matter is the barrier to entry is very low.”
Criminals may have spent hours searching for weaknesses in a company’s firewall, but now AI can do it for them in a much shorter time frame, he said, adding the financial sector is at particular risk.
What should you do?
Kumaraswamy advises companies, in finance and other industries, to “spend the time understanding how generative AI [can] be weaponised” against them. He warned that cybercriminals can be very innovative.
He also said that there will be AI tools that help businesses with their cybersecurity, as there are as many opportunities for the good guys as the bad guys.
“Cybersecurity is going to play a very crucial role in helping the economy grow. It's the guardrail and safety net,” Kumaraswamy said.
“Same thing with consumers, There will be new kinds of technologies that will eventually be able to use AI.”