The internet is not a safe place to be sometimes, and AI might have made it even less safe. Microsoft’s Bing AI utilizes generative AI to serve up search results. It’s a powerful tool to give you legitimate results, but it’s not perfect. According to a report from Malwarebytes (via Techradar), Bing AI results included a malicious ad.
This isn’t exactly a disaster, but it could lead to some issues regarding AI. Right now, all eyes are on AI companies to prove to us that this technology won’t cause abject harm. So, while this issue isn’t really one with AI, it definitely doesn’t help with the case.
A malicious ad was spotted on a Bing AI search result
Coming across malicious ads on the internet isn’t anything new. We’re all used to dodging dodgy ads while wading through search results. However, since this one was given through AI, it could prompt Microsoft to take a closer look at the results that Bing AI is serving up.
The software in question here was given when the researcher asked for the Advanced IP Scanner tool. This is a legitimate bit of software, but Bing gave the user a link to advenced-scanner[.]com. If you were in a rush to get your hands on the tool, you’d miss the intentional typo on the URL; the second “a” in advanced was replaced with an “e”.
When the researcher went to the site, they downloaded an installer for the “tool”. As you can well imagine, what they downloaded was NOT an IP scanning tool. What’s fortunate is that the scam seems to be defunct.
That’s good for this instance, but it’s not much in the grand scheme of things. It shows us all that AI technology is not perfect yet. While AI results are smart, they’re not always safe. This is why it’s always recommended to still use your common sense and intuition while on the internet even if AI is involved.
2023-09-30 15:05:30