AI-driven vehicles stand the chance of being hijacked by terrorists and used to deliver mass casualty attacks without the need for a suicide bomber, a U.N. report warns.
The report, Algorithms and Terrorism: The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence for Terrorist Purposes, details ways emerging AI technologies could be weaponised by extremists and was first covered by The Times.
Self-driving cars, drones and other automated systems to target crowded public spaces could all be seized and remotely controlled by terrorists to deliver deadly consequences in crowded public spaces.
“Vehicles, particularly cars, vans and trucks, have long been used in terrorist attacks,” the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism warned.
It added: “Reflecting on the extensive history of terrorism and vehicles, increased autonomy in cars could well be an amenable development for terrorist groups, allowing them to effectively carry out one of their most traditional types of attacks remotely, without the need for a follower to sacrifice his or her life or risk being apprehended.”
The U.N. report also makes clear its efforts, “should serve as an early warning for potential malicious uses and abuses of AI by terrorists and help the global community, industry and governments to proactively think about what we can do collectively to ensure new technologies are used to bring good and not harm.”
William Allchorn, a senior research fellow at the International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute, said the findings highlighted the need for Britain’s security services and police to prepare for an AI-directed attack.
He told The Times: “The likelihood of co-ordinated attacks using hijacked or self-made AVs [autonomous vehicles] in the near future, ie five to ten years, is moderate to high and should be on the radar of all national security services and practitioners in the UK as a possible threat.
“Terrorist groups hijacking AI-driven vehicles to launch mass casualty attacks is a real but currently limited threat, with increasing potential as the technology matures and proliferates.”
