White House launches AI-based contest to secure government systems from hacks

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters and robot hand miniature in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday said it had launched a multimillion-dollar cyber contest to spur use of artificial intelligence (AI) to find and fix security flaws in U.S. government infrastructure, in the face of growing use of the technology by hackers for malicious purposes.

"Cybersecurity is a race between offense and defense," said Anne Neuberger, the U.S. government's deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology.