With AI, Hackers Can Simply Talk Computers Into Misbehaving

ChatGPT's ability to respond quickly and effectively to simple commands has attracted more than 100 million users, and a few hackers along the way.

- Robert Mcmillan

Johann Rehberger, a security researcher, is one of them. Using plain English, he recently coaxed OpenAI's chatbot to do something bad: Read his email, summarize it and post that information to the internet. In the hands of a criminal, this technique could have been used to steal sensitive data from someone's email inbox, Rehberger said.

ChatGPT "lowers the barrier to entry for all sorts of attacks," Rehberger said. "Because you don't really need to be able to write code. You don't have to have that deep knowledge of computer science or hacking."

The attack wouldn't have affected EET JOURNAL. most ChatGPT accounts. It worked because Rehberger was using a beta-test feature of ChatGPT that gave it access to apps such as Slack, Gmail and others.

"We appreciate the proactive disclosure of the findings, and have implemented a fix to block these attacks in ChatGPT," an OpenAI spokeswoman said in an email. "We're grateful to the community for providing us with critical feedback we can use to make our models safer."

Rehberger's technique, called "prompt injection," is one of a new class of cyberattacks that are increasingly important as technology companies place a new generation of artificial-intelligence software into their businesses and consumer products. These methods are redefining what hacking means, and security researchers are racing to probe vulnerabilities before the use of AI systems becomes more widespread.