On 30 November 2022, ChatGPT was launched, marking the transition of AI from science fiction to reality in the minds of many. Now, a year later, with many expert reactions, we look back on a year that may well go down in the books as the beginning of the AI revolution. ChatGPT is now so popular that OpenAI recently announced it would temporarily stop offering the ChatGPT Plus subscription. Several experts share their views on the impact of ChatGPT and wider developments in artificial intelligence.
SoSafe: AI creates threats, but offers defence opportunities
"As we celebrate ChatGPT's one-year anniversary, it is also a good time to reflect on how AI has shaken up the world of cybersecurity," said Dr Niklas Hellemann, psychologist & CEO at SoSafe. "The explosion of AI tools has ushered in a new cybercrime era: our data shows that 74 per cent of security professionals report that artificial intelligence has worsened the cyber threat situation."
"The biggest concerns around AI-driven cybercrime are about trust, automation and scale. Hackers now use deepfakes and 'vishing' to make their attacks appear credible, making people think they are talking to someone they trust. Meanwhile, AI enables hackers to automatically produce huge amounts of malicious code for malware attacks and significantly expand their operations. The emergence of commercial tools like FraudGPT and WormGPT is helping cybercriminals scale up their phishing attacks both quantitatively and qualitatively: they can write and send phishing emails that look just like authentic human conversations, and they are doing so faster and on a much larger international scale than ever before."
"The rise of AI will certainly not make the cyber threat landscape any better. AI makes cybercrime even more professional and drives innovation. Hackers run their operations like large and highly profitable businesses. But we should not forget that AI also gives us many new opportunities to defend against these cyber threats. We can use AI to personalise awareness training, as our rapid awareness tool 'Sofie' shows. Or by further personalising phishing simulations. By becoming more aware and better prepared to recognise tactics used to attack us, we can strengthen our defences and fight back in this new era of AI-powered cybercrime."
Mendix: GenAI is more than an accelerator
We have seen over the past year that generative AI can potentially be of great value and that it has huge implications for all forms of work. For instance, it can speed up human tasks, support knowledge workers and even help build a chatbot. But those who see GenAI only as an accelerator or a smart aid to make AI more accessible underestimate the real potential of what it could contribute to in the business field," said Hans de Visser, chief product officer at Mendix. "However, if you want to solve a bigger problem and improve business processes with AI, for example, you need a combination of AI techniques, not just one. Gartner calls this 'Composite AI'. Here, multiple AI and analytics capabilities are brought together and create a better - and more reliable - result. This also directly settles one of GenAI's biggest issues that is an essential factor for organisations when adopting AI: trust."
OPP: GenAI as disruptive force and threat
GenAI can also be a game changer for platforms and marketplaces. For example, in the area of customer experience and support. Richard Straver is founder of Online Payment Platform (OPP) a specialised payment service provider for marketplaces and platforms. He stresses that GenAI goes far beyond being a productivity booster. "It can help analyse customer interactions, discover patterns and really improve the customer experience. Furthermore, I see great use cases where it contributes to the development of new content and features. For example, consider integrating ChatGPT into an e-commerce platform to help customers find the right products faster, or help describe a product. In addition, self-learning systems such as ChatGPT can be used to detect suspicious patterns and anomalies to combat fraud. In other words, opportunities abound to further optimise platforms and marketplaces with generative AI."
