Security Deep Dive: Understanding the AI Revolution

Everyone loves a healthy competition. In the musical and movie My Fair Lady!, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, phonetics professor Henry Higgins takes that to the extreme.

He makes a bet that he can transform Eliza Doolitte, a Cockney working-class girl, into someone who can pass as a member of Britain’s elite upper class by giving her speech lessons. Spoiler alert: He’s successful. But that success almost costs him his relationship with Doolitte after he claims all the credit for her work.

That dynamic came to mind when in 1966, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Joseph Weizenbaum published an article in Communications of the ACM about ELIZA—arguably the first chatbot to simulate conversation between a patient and a psychotherapist.

The name ELIZA was chosen “to emphasize that it may be incrementally improved by its users, since its language abilities may be continually improved by a ‘teacher,’” Weizenbaum wrote. “Like the Eliza of Pygmalion fame, it can be made to appear even more civilized, the relation of appearance to reality, however, remaining in the domain of the playwright.”

After ELIZA’s debut, however, Weizenbaum became shocked that some users were “taking his program seriously and opening their hearts to it,” according to his obituary published by MIT in 2008. “The experience prompted him to think philosophically about the implications of artificial intelligence, and later, to become a critic of it.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been living with our own versions of ELIZA this past year. In November 2022, OpenAI released its Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), a large language model-based chatbot to the public. It’s estimated to have been used by more than 100 million monthly users in January 2023, Reuters reports, who engaged with the platform for meal planning, email prompts, code review, and even suggestions on what security topics to brush up on ahead of GSX 2023.

Alongside the release of ChatGPT, a score of other tech firms are working on their own large language model chatbots. And other companies are looking how to use generative AI to create not just text-based content, but visual content, too.

This recent rapid development of technology and its potential led the World Economic Forum to name generative AI one of its Top 10 Emerging Technologies in 2023.

“The newest developments involve autonomous AI systems that can make important decisions or take significant actions,” the WEF said in its report. “For instance, AutoGPT is an autonomous AI application using the GPT-4 language model. AutoGPT can automatically accomplish a user-identified goal by dividing the goal into smaller tasks and employing tolls like Internet searches or text-to-speech technology. The growing integration of generative AI technologies, particularly autonomous AI, into multiple aspects of people’s daily lives, is generating both public excitement and concern.”

These developments will create opportunities for security practitioners, as well as new risks for them to manage. Many of these changes are being covered in sessions at GSX 2023. For those interested in learning more about AI, the following is a sample of the sessions and events that offer a chance to learn and connect. (All times are in Central Time.)

Monday

AI is pervading almost every aspect of physical security technology from sensors to security information management. In “Artificial Intelligence and Physical Security: Fundamentals, Applications, and the Future,” Giovanni Milione, senior researcher at NEC Laboratories America, Inc., will describe the fundamentals of AI in physical security, how AI can be optimized, and future use cases for AI to detect anomalous behavior. In person and GSX Digital attendees can join the session at 10:00 a.m.

Then at 11:15 a.m., presenters will kick off “From Reactive to Proactive: How AI and Automation Can Speed Response Time in Critical Incidents” to share recent innovations in AI that enable a proactive security posture. Donald Cornett, director of global product management, ecosystem solutions, at Motorola Solutions; Drew Weston, CPP, director of national accounts at Mobile Communications America and ASIS Emerging Technology Community steering committee member; and Sharon Hong, vice president, safety reimagined at Motorola Solutions, will share their insights.

Want to learn more about AI-analytics? Matthew Cirnigliaro, regional marketing manager-analytics at Bosch Security and Safety Systems and member of the ASIS Emerging Technology Community steering committee, will share some insights in “Addressing Organizational Challenges with AI-Driven Analytics” at 11:15 a.m.

Also at 11:15 a.m., Barry Norton, vice president of research at Milestone Systems, will walk attendees through how to understand the types and levels of AI deployed in security and safety applications, as well as how synthetic data helps address people’s privacy concerns about the development of AI. Learn more in “Demystifying Artificial Intelligence—How AI Increases the Value of Video Technology in Safety and Security.”

Later in the afternoon, Dean Drako and Navanee Sundaramoorthy from Eagle Eye will help attendees distinguish between generative AI and interpretative AI. Join their talk, “How to Distinguish Real Value from Hype” at 3:15 p.m.

Tuesday

Kicking off the day, John Holubowicz, director of loss prevention at Movado Group, Inc., and William Plante, director of emerging technologies strategic development at ADT Commercial, will share how adopting a well-managed, proven process for studying, assessing, and integrating advanced security innovations can help enterprise security leaders adopt technology that aligns with their business’s goals. Their session, “Enterprise Best Practices to Evaluate and Adopt Emerging Security Challenges,” begins at 10:30 a.m. and is open to CSO Center attendees.

Want to meet other people interested in the development of AI? Consider stopping by the ASIS Hub at 11:30 a.m. to meet with the ASIS Emerging Technology Community and learn more about volunteer opportunities.

How might AI play a role in protecting data centers? In “Securing Our Future: An Open Discussion of Security in the Data Center World,” at 11:45 a.m., Carlos Francisco, CPP, regional security leader at Meta, and Rhett Weddell, global area security manager, data centers at Meta, will open a discussion on data center security concepts, relationships between security stakeholders, and the building blocks for a solid foundation for your data center’s security program.

Over on the X-Stage at 1:30 p.m., Dan Cory, CSO at the San Francisco 49ers, will present “Fact vs. Fiction: The Truth about Leveraging AI to Enhance Security.” He’ll share solutions that are enabling security teams to do more with less, as well as questions to ask when evaluating AI and related technologies. This session is available for in person and GSX Digital attendees.

Francisco will speak again with Scot Walker, PCI, director of investigations at Paper Excellence Group, at 3:15 p.m. in “What Will Corporate Security Look Like in 2033?” They’ll cover technology advancements that could shape the future of the security workforce, and its mission, in a session that will be livestreamed for GSX Digital attendees.

Wednesday

Rounding out education session coverage on AI, at 1:30 p.m. Jamshed Patel, vice president of value engineering at AlertEnterprise, will present “SOC 2.0: Upgrading from Call Center to Threat-Hunting Machine.” Attendees will explore how unified physical and cybersecurity teams harness AI and identity access management to better detect and prevent malicious activity, automate incident response, and keep organizations safe.

Exhibit Hall

More than 400 companies will have their tools and solutions on display throughout the GSX Exhibit Hall. Here are a few that focus on AI-enabled solutions:

• Active Intelligence’s ASTRA software uses machine learning to conduct autonomous anomaly detection to identify developing situations. Booth 2224.
  
  
• Alcatraz AI’s facial authentication technology and tailgating detection solution allow enterprises to transform their access control strategies. Booth 2608.
  
  
• Evolv Technology combines sensor technology with AI to distinguish threats from common items. Booth 3945.
  
  
• SAFR from RealNetworks is a visual intelligence platform that specializes in face and person-based computer vision. Booth 2808.
  
  
• Samdesk provides a global disruption monitoring platform that leverages big data and AI. Booth 4066.
  
  
• Vector Flow, Inc., uses machine learning algorithms to identify and address security gaps, deliver recommendations for improvement, and highlight hidden aspects of users' operational states. Booth 1439.

Megan Gates is senior editor of Security Management and editor-in-chief of Security Technology and the GSX Daily. Connect with her at [email protected] or on LinkedIn. Follow her on Twitter and Threads: @mgngates.