Europol warns of AI-powered organized crime

Europol issued a warning Tuesday about organized crime groups increasingly using artificial intelligence to power their criminal operations.

According to anew report, criminals are using AI to create scams in multiple languages, produce realistic impersonations to aid blackmail, and generate child sexual abuse material. Europol recently cracked down on the latter,coordinating the arrests of 24 people across 19 countries for violating national laws against deepfake child pornography.

“The very DNA of organized crime is changing rapidly, adapting to a world in flux,” wrote Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle. “These innovations [in AI] expand the speed, scale, and sophistication of organized crime, creating an even more complex and rapidly evolving threat landscape for law enforcement.” The report also warns that in the future autonomous AIs could even control criminal networks without human guidance.