Google Is Allowing An AI To Create Its Own Impenetrable Defense Against Hackers

With hacking becoming a huge problem now, what with the internet itself potentially getting shut down because too many toasters are left unguarded can be used as digital ammunition, it was only a matter of time before companies became desperate. One example is Google’s intention to have artificial intelligence create its own digital security system by having three AIs fight each other.

As Geek notes, encryption is one of the most prevalent aspects of modern life that people would have likely relied on or used in one way or another. For those who have ever tried making secret messages or creating their own languages, encryption might already be a familiar thing. Now, Google Brain researchers are trying to give three AIs named Alice, Bob, and Eve the ability to do the same thing by literally trying to outsmart each other.

The concept of AIs creating sophisticated encryption is worrying enough since the programs would need to grow and learn in order for them to do so. However, pitting three AIs against one another so that they can come up with encryption technology from scratch is mind-blowing.

As Quartz reported it, the three deep neural networks weren’t even taught anything about encryption. The researchers simply wanted to see if the AIs can actually come up with the system on their own.

The experiment works by having Alice and Bob communicate via shared encryption keys. Eve’s job is to decrypt the message as it travels to Bob. Alice tries to stop Eve from doing so by shifting the structure of the message while Bob also tries to adapt in order to decrypt the message that no longer responds to the original encryption key.

Based on the results after thousands of exchanges, it would seem that Alice and Bob are thrashing Eve. Unfortunately, the researchers themselves wouldn’t be able to crack the encryption without spending a lot of time and effort into doing so. Alice and Bob could be plotting the end of mankind and no one would know.