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The Cyber Defense Review

Beyond “Bigger, Faster, Better:” Assessing Thinking About Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Conflict

By Dr. Christopher Whyte | December 05, 2023

As cybersecurity researchers and scholars of cyber conflict studies turn to think about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will have on patterns of digi¬tal insecurity, it is important that they learn from the record of recent technological transformation of the national security enterprise. This research note considers the challenge of forthcoming changes in the dynamics of global cyber conflict brought about by AI. It identifies a tendency in the way commentators frame the intersection of these technological areas with known technical or operational touchstones. Specifical¬ly, commentary along both lines often ignores the question of evolving strategic context in much the same way that early scholars of cyber conflict often did, reducing any con¬clusion about the impact of AI on cyber conflict to a simplistic “bigger, faster, smarter, better” bottom line. In place of these frames, I suggest a simple four-part typology that envisions cyber conflict dynamics in which interaction (1) employs AI, (2) is conducted against AI, (3) is undertaken entirely by AI, and (4) is shaped and attenuated by AI.

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