Google says criminal hackers used AI to find software flaw

Security researchers at Alphabet Inc’s Google said they believe a cybercrime group used artificial intelligence to create a hacking tool that can bypass defences in a widely used tool to administer computer systems.

The scheme, which was foiled when Google alerted the tool developer, would mark the first time that Google’s Threat Intelligence Group caught a hacker using an AI-generated “zero-day” in such a way, according to a report published Monday. Zero-day vulnerabilities are flaws unknown to the developer, leaving defenders no time to patch before they can be exploited. Google said it has “high confidence” that AI was used to help discover and weaponise the exploit.