Artificial intelligence enhances the potential of organized crime, from creating images of child sexual abuse to money laundering through cryptocurrencies, Europol warned Tuesday, while developments in areas such as quantum information technology threaten to aggravate the situation.
In a report on threats from organized crime, the European Police Organization said that criminals have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence as a "catalyst" to accelerate their activities.
"Rapid technological developments - especially in artificial intelligence - redevelop the way crime is organized, executed and hidden," Europol said in a detailed 80 -page report on "threat evaluation".
"These changes make organized crime more dangerous, setting an unprecedented security challenge throughout the EU and its Member States," he added.
The use of artificial intelligence and other technologies helps criminals throughout their range of activities, from drug trafficking and people to cyber crime and identity theft.
Creative artificial intelligence allows criminal gangs to hit their goals more globally in many languages and even create images of sexual abuse of children, the police report warned.
"The properties that make artificial intelligence revolutionary - accessibility, flexibility and complexity - have made it an attractive tool for criminals," Europol noted.
Technology also makes it difficult for the authorities to recover illegal profits.
The confiscation of revenue from criminal activities has remained stagnant by about 2%, police said, with the challenge "further deteriorating from the growing criminal exploitation of digital assets".
Criminal groups use cryptocurrencies for money laundering and moving funds, making it difficult to detect and ultimately confiscate.
"The criminal exploitation of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment has now escaped the scope of cybercrime and is increasingly found in more traditional areas of crime, such as drug trafficking or smuggling of immigrants," it said.
As technology improves, the impetus to criminal activity is likely to increase, according to Europol, while also highlighting rapid developments in quantum information technology, Metaverse, 6G network, unmanned systems and brain interfaces.
"The high levels of anonymity, speed and complexity that today show criminal networks are expected to increase in the coming years," the report warns.
Quantum Informatics in particular will allow criminals to easily break the current encryption technology.
Police also refer to the prospect of criminal gangs that will be entirely governed by artificial intelligence.
"The appearance of complete autonomous artificial intelligence could pave the way for criminal networks that are entirely controlled by artificial intelligence, marking a new era in organized crime," the report said.
