Cyberattack AIs must be trained only on air-gapped systems, hundreds of AI researchers say

Current security procedures for training AI models are inadequate, hundreds of AI researchers have warned governments and the AI community. They are calling for tougher rules and the establishment of a new international body overseeing best practice for AI development. In an open letter the AI specialists — 487, at time of publication, including many senior academics — called for more AI safety research and greater emphasis on containment technologies. “Strong sandboxing mechanisms including air-gapping (disconnecting from the internet) should be used to provide high-assurance containment of cyber-capable AI models,” say the signatories, who include such luminaries as Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. The experts said that a new international body, to be set up in consultation with governments and a wide range of AI and security specialists, could set new safety standards but also act as an organization to which containment failures could be reported, improving transparency for learning and accountability purposes. The scientists’ demands go further than some recent calls for greater regulation of AI. Earlier this week, Microsoft president Brad Smith said AI is less regulated than washing machines or milk, although he made no firm proposals to rectify the situation. And the UK parliament is looking at ways to improve AI security, although any moves will be hampered by disagreement among AI businesses. Hinton and Bengio are no strangers to this kind of scientist-led initiative. In October last year, they signed an open letter warning of the dangers of developing super-intelligent AI. The letter appears not to have affected AI’s breakneck development; it remains to be seen whether AI players in boardrooms will heed the warning. This article first appeared on CSO.