Experts warn ChatGPT could be used to ‘help launch cyber-attacks’

Academics have warned that chatbot ChatGPT could be exploited to bring the global cyber world to its knees.

Experts have warned ChatGPT could be used to “help launch cyber-attacks” that would cripple technological infrastructure across the world.

Academics from the University of Sheffield carried out a study on the AI, and found that major vulnerabilities exist in the technology that could be exploited for nefarious purposes, including stealing sensitive and top-secret information, destroy databases and bring down entire cyber services.

Computer science PhD student Xutan Peng, who co-led the study, said: “The risk with AIs like ChatGPT is that more and more people are using them as productivity tools, rather than as a conversational bot.

“This is where our research shows the vulnerabilities are.”

“Code produced by ChatGPT in many cases can be harmful to a database.”

During the study, the experts found that they were able to use the chatbot to create dangerous code.

He continued: “In reality, many companies are simply not aware of these types of threats and due to the complexity of chatbots, even within the community, there are things that are not fully understood.

“At the moment, ChatGPT is receiving a lot of attention. It’s a standalone system, so the risks to the service itself are minimal, but what we found is that it can be tricked into producing malicious code that can do serious harm to other services.”

Elon Musk, the co-founder of ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI also voiced his concerns of the dangerous capabilities of the AI in February.

At the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emerates, the SpaceX and Tesla businessman warned executive of the destructive concequences AI could have for humanity.

He said: “One of the biggest risks to the future of civilization is AI.

“It’s both positive or negative and has great, great promise, great capability, but that comes great danger.

“I think we need to regulate AI safety, frankly. It is, I think, actually a bigger risk to society than cars or planes or medicine.”

The warnings of AI’s destructive potential come ahead of the UK’s AI Safety Summit, in which world leaders and tech giants will meet to discuss the future of the technology and how it should be managed.