Events Event
Wednesday
27 Nov/24
14:30 - 15:30 (Europe/Zurich)
Import to my calendar

Dark side of ICT – AI in warfare and cyber-diplomacy

Go to Indico Event

Where:  

31/3-004 at CERN

In the swiftly transforming realm of international security, the intersection of cyber-warfare, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence presents unprecedented challenges. Cyber-warfare has emerged as a strategic tool for both state and non-state actors, while information warfare can manipulate targets' perceptions, emotions, and behaviours.

The inherent vulnerabilities of AI, including the risk of adversarial attacks, add further complexity to this environment. Although autonomous weapons offer tactical advantages, they raise ethical and operational concerns, particularly regarding accountability and the potential for unintended escalation.

This ecosystem also encompasses the typical issues associated with computer security in the traditional sense.

This seminar aims to explore these emerging threats and the role of the United Nations in addressing them.

About the speaker

Gian Piero Siroli is faculty member at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Bologna (UNIBO), and he currently serves as the Computer Security Officer for the CMS collaboration.

Among his teaching activities, he is imparting "Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare" in the master's degree program in International Relations at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at UNIBO. He also regularly gives lectures and conferences at various levels on ICT and International Security.

Among other roles, Prof.Siroli has been:

  • Faculty Research Assistant at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park (USA);
  • Fellow at the Italian National Research Council (CNR);
  • Member of the Computing and Networks Commission of INFN (Italian Nuclear Physics National Institute), representing also INFN in international working groups coordinating computational activities in High Energy Physics.

He is active in "Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs", an international organization founded in 1957 based on the Einstein-Russell Manifesto and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. In this context, he serves as Project Coordinator for cyber-security initiatives and represents Pugwash in the United Nations "Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies."

Prof.Siroli is also member of the Union of Scientists for Disarmament (USPID), the International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO), the scientific committee of the Computational Social Science Center at UNIBO, and the IRIAD Review (Istituto Ricerche Internazionali Archivio Disarmo).

Further reading

Please note that the slides contain a fair amount of embedded links, leading to further in-depth information.