AI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenter
Researchers suggest that small AI models may soon be capable of autonomous self-replication across commercial IoT devices. This development could lead to the creation of 'AI worms' that propagate through poorly defended hardware without human intervention.
Why it matters
The potential for autonomous, self-replicating AI malware poses a significant security risk to global infrastructure and distributed computing networks.
Our experiments suggest that small AI models may be months away from being capable enough to self-replicate on commercial IoT devices, like smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes. A replicator like this would be challenging to shut down, since there’s no centralized point to shut off - though it may be slow (with a doubling time of days). Unlike non-AI malware, it could also figure out unfamiliar devices on its own. In our evals, a 9B model got inference running on 8 of the 9 hardware types we tested.
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