(NewsNation) — China is allegedly taking its spying program to the next level by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, according to a new report from the FBI.
The report indicates that China is planting people inside companies and organizations to gather trade secrets as well as using sophisticated AI technology to harvest significant amounts of personal data from Americans.
U.S. intelligence has linked China to several high-profile data thefts and cyber attacks in recent years, FBI director Christopher Wray said at a press conference in Silicon Valley earlier this year.
Wray met with the leaders of other intelligence agencies around the world in October to discuss the escalation of China’s AI capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Earlier this year, Wray said China was working to use AI to improve its already massive hacking operations.
China has denied hacking into and stealing from U.S. systems, but over the summer, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry called the U.S. the “biggest hacking empire and global cyber thief” in the world.
While national security officials say they’re concerned about the threat of China’s AI, they say U.S. technology can be used to detect and deter these attacks.
In recent years, the FBI has focused on protecting the manufacturing of computer chips that are powerful enough to process AI programs, rather than the AI companies themselves, according to the WSJ. So even if hackers were able to steal algorithms, the system could be obsolete within six months.
