ABUSE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR EXTREMIST AND TERRORIST PURPOSES

Dr. Marija Đorić, Assistant Director for Scientific Research

Tanja Milošević

Abstract

In this paper, the authors research possible abuse of artificial intelligence for extremist and terrorist purposes. Having the growing digitalization and robotization of the society in mind, it is completely realistic to be expecting a growing abuse of artificial intelligence in the security context, which will definitely be abused by extremist and terrorist groups. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be divided into five basic categories: 1) interactive AI (example: personal assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Alexa); 2) functional AI (robots); 3) analytical AI (data analysis, machine learning); 4) textual AI (text recognition, conversion of speech into textual form); 5) visual AI (augmented reality technology).

However, IT experts, engineers, and analysts all agree that, in the contemporary times, not a single researcher acts only within one of the previously mentioned fields, but conducts research and bases their products on an interdisciplinary approach to the said types of AI. Throughout a series of case studies, the authors analyse numerous ways in which terrorists might abuse artificial intelligence, with a special emphasis on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, that is, drones. Drones have stepped out of the phase of experimental models for conducting reconnaissance missions and entered the historical stage as a weapon on February 04, 2002, when a Predator, piloted by the hand of a member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) conducted the first airstrike in Khost in Afghanistan, with the goal of eliminating Usama bin Laden. Since that moment, UAVs are present as a method of eliminating the enemy in the majority of conflicts. In this paper are contemporary trends regarding the definition of extremism and terrorism elaborated, the points of contact and the points of distancing between them are determined, followed by a detailed analysis of examples of abuse of drones by terrorist organizations, such as the so-called “Islamic State” and “Hezbollah”, as well as the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

The main purpose of the paper is to estimate the danger extremists and terrorists pose to the contemporary society in the context of abuse of artificial intelligence. The conclusion is that, in the coming future, extremists will more and more use artificial intelligence for conducting their activities, including terrorist attacks.

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