Thales chief calls for fighting AI with AI: cyberattacks growing at a ‘frightening’ speed

Europe’s largest defence technology company, Thales, has called for much larger investment in artificial-intelligence defences. Its chief executive, Patrice Caine, warned, as Reuters reports from a cybersecurity event, that AI-powered cyberattacks are growing at a ‘frightening’ speed.

According to him, artificial intelligence enables attackers to act faster and launch ever more sophisticated attacks, while some models are already gaining a degree of autonomy as well. ‘AI is also an opportunity, reciprocally, to be used by the defenders, by the good guys — and that gets much less attention, unfortunately,’ Caine said.

During the event, he presented new security tools, including software protection designed against AI-powered attacks, as well as a partnership with Google Cloud aimed at helping companies work safely with artificial intelligence.

Caine also said the nature of attackers has changed radically: state actors no longer target only government institutions, but also private companies, especially those operating critical services. European governments are concerned about Russian sabotage and hybrid attacks, which they say aim to undermine support for Ukraine; Moscow denies these accusations.

‘AI can be used to defend, using the same scale and the same speed that attackers use to attack,’ he said, stressing that defence must move at the same pace as the attack.