The Most Significant AI-related Risks in 2024

In the year 2024, AI is expected to bring significant challenges in various sectors including cybersecurity, scams, privacy erosion and malware automation. Deepfakes are becoming easier to produce and can be used for a range of fraudulent activities such as promoting fake products or altering history books. Automation of scams will also increase with AI-generated images and text messages being used in various types of scams including romance, online shopping, property and pig butchering scams. Privacy erosion is another major concern due to the increasing use of AI for mass surveillance and profiling of internet users. The automation of malware and cyberattacks will also become more sophisticated with the help of LLMs, making it difficult for traditional defense methods to recognize and detect harmful code. Less secure apps are becoming common as developers over-rely on AI tools without fully understanding their outputs or how they fit into the broader context and data flow. To navigate these challenges, there is an urgent need for global collaboration among governments and economic and technological drivers to form a comprehensive council dedicated to overseeing AI ethics, laws, and regulations.