UK spy agency GCHQ accelerates AI use to tackle state-backed threats

Improvements in analysing vast amounts of global data will spot disinformation campaigns and foil criminal gangs

The UK's GCHQ surveillance agency says it is embracing AI to tackle a range of threats. Ministry of Defence

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)  on Thursday detailed its plans to embrace artificial intelligence to sift vast amounts of data to identify state-led disinformation campaigns.

The spy agency said advances in computing and the doubling of global data every two years meant it would increasingly use AI to identify cyber attacks and uncover sophisticated criminal trafficking and child abuse rings.

AI, which can spot patterns in data that would take human beings years to identify, could also help to spot malicious software that has the potential to cripple a business's ability to work and its profitability.

GCHQ has used AI for years but is increasing its use because of the growing sophistication of hostile attacks and the surge in data on which it relies.

The agency's former head, Robert Hannigan, said last week that fake news stories about Covid-19 were being published by foreign states such as Russia and China in an attempt to undermine the West's vaccination programmes and promote their own inoculation drugs.

“AI, like so many technologies, offers great promise for society, prosperity and security. Its impact on GCHQ is equally profound,” said Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ.

The centre, in Cheltenham, published a report, Ethics of AI: Pioneering a New National Security, and is planning an AI testing laboratory in Manchester, north-west England.

"AI will be a critical issue for our national security in the 21st century," according to the report, which was released on Thursday.

The world’s leading security services are racing to harness the potential of big data through technology to promote their cyber offensive and defensive capabilities.

In cyber intelligence, the US is ranked by Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Centre as the top global power, followed by Britain, China and Israel.

“We can expect the deployment of new computing techniques, synthetic biology and other emerging technologies over the next few years,” GCHQ said in the report.

“Each new development helps our economy and society grow stronger, and provides opportunities to keep us secure, but also has the potential to be misused by those who seek to do us harm.”