Future Trends and Challenges in Cybersecurity and Generative AI

Abstract

The chapter presents a comprehensive exploration of the changing dynamics at the intersection between the rapidly growing landscape of the interconnectivity of various devices—the internet of things—and the innovations piloted by advancements in generative artificial intelligence. In the following background-focused analysis, the significance of the enactment of new levels of security details in this fast-growing and virulently expansive landscape is emphasized, with generative AI ultimately serving as the highlight. The conversation consequently shifts to threats. This includes a detailed depiction of new cybersecurity threats rooted in advancements in AI, featuring AI malicious actors and incidents, such as the increasingly popular phenomenon of ransomware-as-a-service as mirror illustrations of the dynamic and multifaceted character of these threats. The class further proceeds to more in-depth detail about the most contemporary generative AI platforms such as generative adversarial networks, variational autoencoders, and reinforcement learning—all relevant in identifying emerging solutions to advance strategies in cybersecurity. The conversation simultaneously conducts an opportunity and threat analysis of the merger between these platforms and cybersecurity with regard to ethics, regulations, and overall adversarial touchpoints and tactics. The chapter concludes with a call for unity in discourse and action between the relevant industry, academia, and government stakeholders as a summary of the essential cross-disciplinary aspect that must drive the narrative in confronting and overcoming the threats to and from generative AI research. Having presented the narrative structure, this chapter has allowed a comprehensive coverage of the major issues and opportunities at the heart of the cybersecurity-generative AI combination. Additionally, it has provided a forum to call for collaborative and fortified efforts regarding the securing and defending of the uncertainties that the rapidly changing and more unpredictable digital landscape has in store for the world.