The Offense-Defense Balance of Scientific Knowledge: Does Publishing AI Research Reduce Misuse?

Understand

There is growing concern over the potential misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) research.

• Publishing scientific research can facilitate misuse of the technology, but the research can also contribute to protections against misuse.
• This paper addresses the balance between these two effects.
• Our theoretical framework elucidates the factors governing whether the published research will be more useful for attackers or defenders, such as the possibility for adequate defensive measures, or the independent discovery of the knowledge outside of the scientific community.