‘AI can be defeated with cryptography,’ says Chelsea Manning at SXSW

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic following the launch of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot created by research company OpenAI. Yet, while ChatGPT has the potential to write blogs and create crypto trading bots, some worry that AI could be harmful. 

A survey conducted by sales platform Tidio found that 69% of college graduates believe AI could take their job or make it irrelevant in the coming years. Others have pointed out that the rise of AI will make it increasingly challenging to verify accurate information versus fake news generated by artificial intelligence.

For example, Chelsea Manning — an activist, security consultant for decentralized privacy platform Nym and former army intelligence analyst — told Cointelegraph that information verification would become a fundamental problem as AI is integrated into society. Manning told Cointelegraph about how blockchain technology can help combat AI challenges during an exclusive interview at South by Southwest 2023.

Cointelegraph: Why is the rise of AI concerning, and how can blockchain technology combat these concerns?

Chelsea Manning: The actual teachings of AI have been going on for a long time, yet as surveillance in AI becomes more efficient, it will reduce the effectiveness of virtual private networks and other circuits from protecting user data.

Another danger associated with AI and deep fakes is that these elements will eventually become so convincing that many of these instances will end up in a courtroom setting. For instance, there will be situations in the future where individuals will have to forensically verify to a court if something was generated by AI.

We can use blockchain technology to create a decentralized list of where information is coming from, who is producing it and where it was created. This can then be verified on a distributed ledger to prove that a particular event historically occurred, resulting in less dispute.

For instance, someone could take a photograph and then place that metadata on a ledger for verification. If someone tries to dispute that, they can go to the ledger and view the cryptographic signature for verification to see that a particular event occurred.

CT: Do you think we will see more companies evolve that will use cryptography to combat AI challenges?

CM: Yes — since verification is going to be a fundamental problem that arises between society’s exposure to products or surveillance that leverage AI. One way to challenge this is through…