NSA Administrator Paul Nakasone said the United States maintains an advantage in AI development, but its capabilities cannot be “taken for granted,” highlighting the threat from China.
The National Security Agency (NSA) announced the creation of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Security, which will oversee the development and integration of AI capabilities across the U.S. defense and intelligence community.
Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, said Thursday that U.S. officials recognize the growing importance of AI in national security and the opening of the new center will “shape the future” of national security. He said that this is part of the steps to AI technologies in security, defense, and intelligence.
“We currently maintain the lead in the field of AI in the United States. We should not take the benefits of AI for granted,” Nakasone said at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., announcing the center’s opening and China’s He spoke about the growing threat posed.
Nakasone said the AI center will be incorporated into NSA’s current Cybersecurity Collaboration Center and will be the focal point for “facilitating the secure deployment of new AI capabilities across the national security enterprise and defense industrial base.”
“AI will become increasingly important to national security for our nation and our allies and partners in diplomatic, technological, and economic matters,” Nakasone said, according to a Pentagon statement.
The NSA director said it is imperative that the United States maintain its leadership in AI development and prevent malicious foreign actors from gaining access to American AI innovations.
“Ensuring AI security requires building a solid understanding of AI vulnerabilities, foreign intelligence threats to these AI systems, and how threats can be encountered,” he said.
Asked about the U.S.’s use of AI to automate threat analysis, Nakasone said that while humans still make the final decisions, U.S. intelligence and defense agencies are already leveraging AI. He said there was.
“AI will help us, but our decisions will be made by humans. And that’s an important difference,” he said. “We certainly see assistance from artificial intelligence. But ultimately the decisions are going to be made by humans and the humans in the loop.”
In response to questions from reporters, Nakasone said the U.S. Security Agency has not “yet” detected any attempts by Russia or China to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
He said there will be many elections in other parts of the world before the US presidential vote, and the US will work with partners and allies to prevent such manipulation.
The creation of the Center for AI Security makes it a national security priority for the United States to protect AI models from theft and sabotage, especially as generative AI technologies emerge with immense transformative potential for both good and bad actors. This follows an NSA investigation that identified significant security challenges.
Cybersecurity researchers also say China has stepped up cyber operations focused on the United States and its allies in recent months, including pre-deploying malware aimed at disrupting military communications. It also states that it may be included.
On Thursday, the United States and Japan issued warnings that Chinese hackers are targeting government, industry, communications and other organizations that support their militaries.