How AI could make it harder for governments to use hacking tools
Cryptography expert Matthew Green suggests that advancements in AI-driven software security could make it increasingly difficult for law enforcement to hack into criminal devices. This shift threatens the 'uneasy truce' between government surveillance needs and consumer privacy protections.
Why it matters
As software becomes more secure, the debate over 'going dark' and the ability of intelligence agencies to conduct lawful surveillance is reaching a critical technological impasse.
Earlier in August, cryptography professor Matthew Green wrote a controversial thread on X and a longer blog post that went viral within the cybersecurity community.
Green, who has long been a close observer of the debate around the use of hacking tools by governments to fight crime and the need for strong encryption to protect the privacy of innocent people, posited a provocative thought: What if AI makes bugs so scarce that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are unable to lawfully hack criminals anymore?
“I’m concerned that AI is going to make software much too secure,” Green wrote, warning that the U.S. government may lose access to security flaws to hack into targets they need to surveil as companies patch an unprecedented volume of bugs.
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