Avoid AI chatbots not appearing on company's website or app, warn researchers

Researchers have warned to avoid chatbots that don't appear on a company's website or app and be cautious of providing any personal information to someone users are chatting with online, a new report said on Tuesday.

According to the Norton Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse report, cybercriminals can now quickly and easily craft email or social media phishing lures that are even more convincing by using AI chatbots like ChatGPT, making it more difficult to tell what's legitimate and what's a threat.

"We know cybercriminals adapt quickly to the latest technology, and we're seeing that ChatGPT can be used to quickly and easily create convincing threats," said Kevin Roundy, Senior Technical Director of Norton.


Moreover, the report said that bad actors can also use AI technology to create deepfake chatbots.

These chatbots can impersonate humans or legitimate sources, like a bank or government entity, to manipulate victims into turning over their personal information to gain access to sensitive information, steal money or commit fraud.

To stay safe from these new threats, experts advise users to think before clicking on links in response to unsolicited phone calls, emails or messages.

Further, they also recommend users to keep the security solution updated and ensure that it has a full set of security layers that go beyond known malware detection, such as behavioural detection and blocking.

Issues with biases

AI platforms ChatGPT of OpenAI’s and Bard of Google have been making waves as the next big thing in technology. However, as they get more integrated into people’s lives, biases that are embedded within these systems become too apparent to ignore.

The biases can have serious consequences. for individuals and communities, particularly those who have historically faced one or other type of discrimination. Biased algorithms, for instance, can lead to unfair lending practices, or unjust arrests and convictions.

Bias in AI crops up when the training data used to develop machine-learning models reflects systemic discrimination, prejudice, or unequal treatment in society. This can lead to AI systems that reinforce existing biases and perpetuate discrimination.

Human error is the reason for bias as AI models are developed, trained and tested by humans only.

Also read | ETtech Explainer: warnings aplenty against AI chatbot biases, ignore them at your own peril