Darktrace warns of rise in AI-enhanced scams since ChatGPT release

The cybersecurity firm Darktrace has warned that since the release of ChatGPT it has seen an increase in criminals using artificial intelligence to create more sophisticated scams to con employees and hack into businesses.

The company said it had seen the emergence of more convincing and complex scams by hackers since the launch of the hugely popular Microsoft-backed AI tool ChatGPT last November.

However, Darktrace said that the phenomenon had not yet resulted in a new wave of cybercriminals emerging, merely changing the tactics of the existing cohort.

The company, whose market capitalisation of £1.9bn is far from the heady highs of almost £7bn months after flotation, said it had increased its customer base by a quarter year-on-year from 6,573 to 8,178 in the six months to the end of December.

Darktrace, which has been subjected to a barrage of criticism from short-sellers unconvinced that it can deliver on its aim of becoming a potential European superpower in the US-dominated cybersecurity space, said it was not concerned by the recent slump in new business.