Tech & Software

China, Russia could target Canada’s AI sector, spy agency warns – National

Canada’s spy service warns that adversaries will turn to espionage and foreign interference tactics to target the country’s increasingly important artificial-intelligence sector.

China, Russia could target Canada’s AI sector, spy agency warns - National

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says in a newly released analytical brief that countries including China and Russia can be expected to “pursue Canada’s AI through all available vectors” _ from state-sponsored investment to the use of covert operatives.

The analysis by the spy agency’s intelligence assessments branch, marked CSIS Eyes Only, was completed in July 2021 but only recently released to The Canadian Press in response to an access-to-information request filed in October of that year.

Read more:

Will ChatGPT take your job? New program shows AI could be ‘competing’ for work: experts

Read next:

Part of the Sun breaks free and forms a strange vortex, baffling scientists

It is the latest signal from the intelligence community that Canada’s technological innovation and resulting economic advancement are vulnerable to foreign forces out to co-opt or pilfer valuable research.

Story continues below advertisement

CSIS says emerging artificial intelligence capabilities and machine-learning tools are seen as key to developing ways to reduce plastic in the oceans, find a vaccine to treat the next looming pandemic, stem emissions that cause climate change and find safe navigation methods for self-driving cars.

The analysis notes artificial intelligence is a priority for Canada, considered central to Ottawa’s domestic innovation and prosperity goals.

“However, many other nations, including hostile state actors, have established their own national Al strategies and goals,” the brief says. “Some of these countries, particularly China and Russia, will resort to espionage and foreign-influenced activity to advance their national interests, at Canada’s expense.”


Click to play video: 'Can AI and ChatGPT help healthcare?'

Can AI and ChatGPT help healthcare?

 


As a result, artificial intelligence has been reflected in the federal government’s intelligence priorities for several years, CSIS says.

It finds Canada faces two main types of threats related to artificial intelligence.

Story continues below advertisement

The first entails espionage and foreign interference in attempts to gain access to proprietary Al technology and know-how via trade (such as exports and reverse engineering), state-sponsored foreign investment, joint ventures (including transfer of technology), cyberespionage, intelligence operatives, insider threats, talent spotting and recruitment.

Read more:

ChatGPT: U.S. lawmakers taking interest in AI platform. Why?

Read next:

Exclusive: Widow’s 911 call before James Smith Cree Nation murders reveals prior violence

“Much of those efforts are aimed at Canada’s academia and vulnerable startups, which are responsible for the majority of our Al innovation but which also represent a permissive espionage environment.”

The second threat involves safety and security risks to individual Canadians and the country’s Armed Forces when adversaries obtain and use AI capabilities for intelligence or military purposes.

Aaron Shull, managing director and general counsel at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont., said he agrees with CSIS’s assessment, but would go even further.

Shull cited other foreign threats in this realm, including AI-enabled cyberattacks that swiftly find gaps in computer code, use of facial recognition and surveillance by authoritarian regimes, automated bots that spread disinformation in cyberspace and dependence on international supply chains that are partly controlled by adversaries.


Click to play video: 'Answering with AI: How ChatGPT is shaking up online information searches'

Answering with AI: How ChatGPT is shaking up online information searches

 


“I think we need a full-scale review of our national security and intelligence capabilities and services, our legislative structures, and take a more strategic view in terms of where we want the country to be 20 years from now,” Shull said in an interview.

Story continues below advertisement

Canada could then make the needed investments and legislative changes to get there, he said.

“Other countries have their elbows up, and they’re trying to take what’s ours.”

Read more:

‘China is trying to interfere’ but Canadians alone determined recent elections: Trudeau

Read next:

Google AI chatbot Bard gives wrong answer, sending shares plummeting

CSIS says the importance of protecting Canadian artificial intelligence and the Big Data underpinning it goes beyond simply protecting the privacy of citizens, and involves “securing the future of our nation against the actions of hostile state actors with the intent to leverage their capabilities against us.”

The brief stresses the importance of Big Data to artificial intelligence, saying the more data a country possesses, the more it can be fed into that country’s Al systems, accelerating their capabilities, making better decisions faster and ensuring a leg-up on the competition.

“This will determine the victor in the modern world,” the brief says.

“All nations will find themselves on a grid ranging from ignorance to control, based on how much data they have and how fast they can process it.”


Click to play video: 'Foreign state actors ‘can move a needle’ in certain ridings, Conservative MP questions during committee hearing'

Foreign state actors ‘can move a needle’ in certain ridings, Conservative MP questions during committee hearing

 


The West faces “the threat of growing authoritarian dominance of the internet” by Beijing, given the high number of internet users in China and a government focused on gaining complete and centralized collection and retention of data, CSIS says.

Story continues below advertisement

“Moreover, China houses acres of data centres that store data from around the world, obtained both licitly and illicitly. This makes the data that China possesses valuable in both quantity and variety,” the brief adds.

“One can confidently say this gives China an advantage in the Al industry, and the decisions that follow.”

&copy 2023 The Canadian Press

Be known by your own web domain (en)

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *