The development of artificial intelligence has begun to feel inevitable and holds lots of promise, but there are hidden dangers, according to Ben Zhao.
Zhao, a computer scientist at the University of Chicago, has spent much of his career testing how the security of these systems can break down.
“Really, this space is so hyped—there’s so much excitement—that I thought that it was just a little too crowded,” Zhao says. “Turns out that one way to help with that hype is to actually pop a couple of balloons by looking at the downsides and some of the challenges that people are oftentimes ignoring a little bit,” Zhao says.
Zhao’s study involving AI-generated Yelp reviews shows how these systems could distort our perceptions of reality, especially in this era of fake news. His latest investigation into “backdoors” demonstrates how hackers could use them to compromise crucial systems in dangerous and even deadly ways.
Here, Zhao talks about the dangers and pitfalls of AI:
Source: University of Chicago
