Generative AI’s disinformation threat is ‘overblown,’ top cyber expert says

Published

1 year ago

May 9, 2024

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2024 is set up to be the biggest global election year in history. It coincides with the rapid rise in deepfakes. In APAC alone, there was a surge in deepfakes by 1530% from 2022 to 2023, according to a Sumsub report.

Fotografielink | Istock | Getty Images

Cybersecurity experts fear artificial intelligence-generated content has the potential to distort our perception of reality — a concern that is more troubling in a year filled with critical elections.

But one top expert is going against the grain, suggesting instead that the threat deep fakes pose to democracy may be “overblown.”

Martin Lee, technical lead for Cisco’s Talos security intelligence and research group, told CNBC he thinks that deepfakes — though a powerful technology in their own right — aren’t as impactful as fake news is.

However, new generative AI tools do “threaten to make the generation of fake content easier,” he added.

AI-generated material can often contain commonly identifiable indicators to suggest that it’s not been produced by a real person.

Visual content, in particular, has proven vulnerable to flaws. For example, AI-generated images can contain visual anomalies, such as a person with more than two hands, or a limb that’s merged into the background of the image.

It can be tougher to decipher between synthetically-generated voice audio and voice clips of real people. But AI is still only as good as its training data, experts say.

“Nevertheless, machine generated content can often be detected as such when viewed objectively. In any case, it is unlikely that the generation of content is limiting attackers,” Lee said.

Experts have previously told CNBC that they expect AI-generated disinformation to be a key risk in upcoming elections around the world.

‘Limited usefulness’

Matt Calkins, CEO of enterprise tech firm Appian, which helps businesses make apps more easily with software tools, said AI has a “limited usefulness.”

A lot of today’s generative AI tools can be “boring,” he added. “Once it knows you, it can go from amazing to useful [but] it just can’t get across that line right now.”

“Once we’re willing to trust AI with knowledge of ourselves, it’s going to be truly incredible,” Calkins told CNBC in an interview this week.

That could make it a more effective — and dangerous — disinformation tool in future, Calkins warned, adding he’s unhappy with the progress being made on efforts to regulate the technology stateside.

It might take AI producing something egregiously “offensive” for U.S. lawmakers to act, he added. “Give us a year. Wait until AI offends us. And then maybe we’ll make the right decision,” Calkins said. “Democracies are reactive institutions,” he said.

No matter how advanced AI gets, though, Cisco’s Lee says there are some tried and tested ways to spot misinformation — whether it’s been made by a machine or a human.

“People need to know that these attacks are happening and mindful of the techniques that may be used. When encountering content that triggers our emotions, we should stop, pause, and ask ourselves if the information itself is even plausible, Lee suggested.

“Has it been published by a reputable source of media? Are other reputable media sources reporting the same thing?” he said. “If not, it’s probably a scam or disinformation campaign that should be ignored or reported.”

Technology

CrowdStrike shares drop on weak revenue guidance

Published

8 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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CrowdStrike shares drop on weak revenue guidance

George Kurtz, chief executive officer of Crowdstrike Inc., speaks during the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica, California, U.S., on Wednesday, March 4, 2020.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

CrowdStrike shares fell 7% in extended trading on Tuesday after the security software maker issued a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast.

Here’s how the company did against LSEG consensus:

Earnings per share: 73 cents, adjusted vs. 65 cents expected

Revenue: $1.10 billion vs. $1.10 billion expected

Revenue increased by nearly 20% in the fiscal first quarter, which ended on April 30, according to a statement. The company registered a net loss of $110.2 million, or 44 cents per share, compared with net income of $42.8 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Costs rose in sales and marketing as well as in research and development and administration, partly because of a broad software outage last summer.

For the current quarter, CrowdStrike called for 82 cents to 84 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $1.14 billion to $1.15 million in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG were expecting 81 cents per share and $1.16 billion in revenue.

CrowdStrike bumped up its guidance for full-year earnings but maintained its expectation for revenue. The company now sees $3.44 to $3.56 in adjusted earnings per share, with $4.74 billion to $4.81 billion in revenue. The LSEG consensus was $3.43 per share and $4.77 billion in revenue. The earnings guidance provided in March was $3.33 to $3.45 in adjusted earnings per share.

Also on Tuesday, CrowdStrike said it had earmarked $1 billion for share buybacks.

“Today’s announced share repurchase reflects our confidence in CrowdStrike’s future and unwavering mission of stopping breaches,” CEO George Kurtz said in the statement.

As of Tuesday’s close, the stock was up 43% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index had gained less than 2%.

Executives will discuss the results on a conference call with analysts starting at 5 p.m. ET.

WATCH: Trade Tracker: Malcolm Ethridge buys more CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Spotify and Oracle

Technology

Nvidia tops Microsoft, regains most valuable company title for first time since January

Published

9 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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Nvidia tops Microsoft, regains most valuable company title for first time since January

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks as he visits Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to announce a U.S. supercomputer to be powered by Nvidia’s forthcoming Vera Rubin chips, in Berkeley, California, U.S., May 29, 2025.

Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters

Nvidia passed Microsoft in market cap on Tuesday, once again becoming the most valuable publicly traded company in the world.

Shares of the artificial intelligence chipmaker rose about 3% on Tuesday to $141.40, and the stock has surged nearly 24% in the past month as Nvidia’s growth has persisted even through export control and tariff concerns.

The company now has a $3.45 trillion market cap. Microsoft closed Tuesday with a $3.44 trillion market cap.

Nvidia has been trading places with Apple and Microsoft at the top of the market cap ranks since last June. The last time Nvidia was the most-valuable company was on Jan. 24.

Nvidia and other chip named boosted markets Tuesday. Broadcom rose by 3%, and Micron Technology gained 4%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF, which tracks a basket of chip stocks, gained 2%.

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says Nintendo Switch 2 has dedicated AI processors

Published

11 hours ago

June 3, 2025

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Nvidia's Jensen Huang says Nintendo Switch 2 has dedicated AI processors

An attendee wearing a cow costume while playing Mario Kart World by Nintendo Switch 2 during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the Excel London international exhibition and convention centre in London on April 11, 2025.

Isabel Infantes | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Tuesday talked up the capabilities of Nintendo‘s new Switch 2, days before the long-awaited console is set to hit store shelves.

In a video posted by Nintendo, Huang called the chip inside the Switch 2 “unlike anything we’ve built before.”

“It brings together three breakthroughs: The most advanced graphics ever in a mobile device, full hardware ray tracing, high dynamic range for brighter highlights and deeper shadows, and an architecture that supports backward compatibility,” Huang said.

He added that the console has dedicated artificial intelligence processors to “sharpen, animate and enhance gameplay in real time.”