On the 28th, Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese police arrested a man for creating a computer virus by exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) available on the internet.
The suspect is known to have gathered virus design information through multiple interactive generative AI and combined them to create a virus. This marks the first case in Japan where the creation of a virus using generative AI has been caught.
According to investigators, the suspect was accused of creating a virus in March last year by combining illegal program design information extracted from his home computer and smartphone using interactive AI (Charge of making illegal instruction electronic records).
The virus he created could encrypt the data of its targets or demand cryptographic assets.
During police questioning, the suspect admitted to the charges, stating, “I wanted to make money with ransomware. I thought I could do anything if I asked the AI.” However, no damage caused by this virus has been confirmed.
While responses to ChatGPT, published by U.S. OpenAI and others, have been strengthened to prevent eliciting answers related to crimes, it is known that some interactive generative AIs available on the internet provide unlimited information that can be exploited for criminal activities.
The suspect managed to extract necessary design information for file encryption and ransom demands by giving instructions to the AI without revealing his intentions to create a virus. Following his statement that he found out how to get answers from AI through illicit internet searches, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is also investigating the performance of the generative AI exploited for the crime.
In March, the police department arrested the suspect for fraud for illegally contracting a smartphone communication card. A virus he created was discovered on his computer, and other devices were seized from his home.
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