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.
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 the ad
CSIS says new artificial intelligence capabilities and machine learning tools will help reduce plastic in our oceans, find vaccines to treat the next looming pandemic, curb climate change-causing emissions, and improve the safety of self-driving cars. It holds the key to developing a method to find good navigation methods. .
Artificial intelligence is considered a priority for Canada and central to Ottawa’s domestic innovation and prosperity goals, according to the analysis.
” However, many other countries, including hostile state actors, have established their own national AI strategies and goals,” Brief said. “Some of these countries, particularly China and Russia, will resort to espionage and foreign-influenced activities at Canadian expense to advance their national interests.”
As a result, according to CSIS, artificial intelligence has been a federal priority for several years.
Canada notes that she faces two main types of threats related to artificial intelligence.
The story continues under the ad
The first is trade (such as exports and reverse engineering), state-sponsored foreign investment, joint ventures (including technology transfer), cyber espionage, intelligence agencies, insider threats, and talent scouting and recruitment.
Read on:
ChatGPT: US lawmakers interested in AI platforms. 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.”
Trending Now
Close Roxham Road border crossing within 30 days, Poilievre urge
Guns N` Roses plots extensive 2023 world tour with 4 Canadian dates
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.
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 nations are raising their elbows and trying to take what is 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.”
1:21
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. “It is no exaggeration to say that this gives China an advantage in the aluminum industry and subsequent decisions.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
