Artificial Intelligence is showing enormous promise for improving our daily life. Countless applications in many sectors of the economy are already being developed and more can be expected over the long term. As this new world emerges, we need to seize the opportunity to decide how AI can help us promote a better society and a more sustainable future. Indeed, AI developments, as for any powerful general purpose, dual use technology, not only bring extensive possibilities, but also challenges to match, with people able to use AI to achieve both honourable and malevolent goals. Cybersecurity is a case in point. AI in the form of machine learning and deep learning will make an escalation of cyber-attacks easier, allowing for faster, better targeted and more destructive attacks. At the same time, AI could improve cybersecurity and defence measures allowing for greater system robustness, resilience and responsiveness. However, the application of AI in cybersecurity poses security as well as ethical concerns. For instance, while AI systems can exceed human performance in launching aggressive counter cyber operations, they could also fail in ways that a human never would. If this is the case, should ‘kill switches’ be incorporated in the systems? Furthermore, using AI for cybersecurity increases the need for better information sharing and collection of real time threat data. In parallel, cybersecurity for AI would need to be developed to make systems safe and secure. How can autonomous and intelligent systems be protected from malicious attacks? What are the implications of the vulnerabilities of AI-enabled systems to manipulation such as data poisoning and adversarial examples? How should the search for undiscovered exploits and well-known vulnerabilities be framed in the AI domain?
This Task force will bring attention to the market, technical, ethical and governance challenges posed by the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, focusing in particular on EU policy, but also looking at developments in other parts of the world. It will be composed of academics, industry players from various sectors, European Institutions & Agencies and civil society. And it will discuss issues such as: the state and evolution of the application of AI in cybersecurity; the debate on the role that AI could play in the dynamics between cyber attackers and defenders; the increasing need for sharing information on threats and how to deal with the vulnerabilities of AI-enabled systems; options for policy experimentation; and possible EU policy measures to ease the adoption of AI in cybersecurity in Europe.
If you are interested in joining this CEPS Task Force, please fill in and return the attached registration form via e-mail to carolina.polito@ceps.eu by the 25th of October
The meeting is open only to Task Force participants. If you need additional information, please email to lorenzo.pupillo@ceps.eu
29 October 2019 – Registration and lunch from 12.15 to 13.00 – Meeting from 13.00 to 17.30
