Google, the tech giant, said it has patched more security flaws in its Chrome browser in the last month than in the past two years combined, with help from its internal AI tools.
Google announced that it has fixed a whopping 1,072 security bugs in the last two versions of Chrome, both released in June. That is more than the number of bugs patched in the previous 23 versions released over the last two years, which totaled 1,036 fixes.
Ever since the advent of LLMs, cybersecurity experts have warned that AI-powered systems would find an increasingly and exponentially enormous amount of bugs, forcing defenders to also use AI to get ahead of malicious hackers, according to TechCrunch, a leading online newspaper focused on the technology industry.
It said a chart published by Google, which the company revealed as part of a white paper on the company’s efforts to use AI to find flaws and patch them faster, shows the exponential increase.
“For context, Chrome’s 126 was released in June 2024, while the latest two Chrome releases, Chrome 149 and 150, were released last month,” it said.
Doug Turner, Chrome’s director of engineering, told TechCrunch in a statement that LLMs have “fundamentally shifted the economics of cybersecurity, transforming vulnerability discovery into an automated, industrial-scale operation.”
“By applying models like Gemini, we are preemptively fixing vulnerabilities, outpacing our adversaries and making Chrome safer with every update,” said Turner.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it had patched a record 570 security flaws across its product lines as part of its monthly round of scheduled patches — colloquially known as “Patch Tuesday.” Microsoft cited its own use of AI to explain the sudden jump in bug fixes.
People Limiting AI Use
According to a new report by the Digital Futures Institute at King’s College London (KCL) and Responsible AI UK, people are increasingly choosing to limit or reject the use of AI tools.
The report revealed that 42% of individuals deliberately limit the amount of AI they use, largely due to privacy and security concerns, including some of those who are positive about AI.
“The most common reason chosen for limiting use is concern about data privacy, security and compliance, and the second most common reason is a preference to keep doing work the way it is currently done,” KCL said in a press release.
Taking in over 2,000 people living in the UK, the survey indicated a four percentage point rise to 52% in those who see AI as posing “more risks than benefits” and a drop to 34% of those who take the optimistic opposing view.
At the same time, people appear ever more concerned that there is no leeway to opt out from AI, which many respondents are finding discomforting as they are cornered into using chatbots.
“The majority of people think it would be difficult or impossible for them to avoid being exposed to AI even if they wanted to, raising questions about how people can meaningfully consent to the use of AI in today’s society,” the researchers said in their report.
Pressure on People
As pressure grows on people to show they are not only interested in but also proficient in AI to get or retain jobs, the survey team explained that people who are opting out do not lack the skills needed to lean on chatbots.
Amid AI-fueled stock market booms, the notion that enthusiasm for AI could be on the wane would likely be seen as far-fetched in big tech boardrooms.
“The companies selling us new technology often assume that people most familiar with it will like it most,” said Jack Stilgoe of University College London.
“Our findings show that this isn’t true,” he added, warning that “people are becoming more concerned about AI over time, and even the people who use it most are ambivalent.”
Kate Devlin of King’s College London (KCL) said people need meaningful ways to consent to the use of AI, namely the ability to choose when it is applied, how it interacts with them, and how they can opt out where it matters.”
