UK terror expert raises alarm over small drone risks and AI dangers

British counter-terrorism official points-out gaps in drone control laws that might cause safety problems. Latest data shows thousands of drone-related incidents while AI brings new security questions

October 27 2024 , 03:58 PM  •  680 views

UK terror expert raises alarm over small drone risks and AI dangers

Jonathan Hall KC‚ Britains terrorism legislation reviewer points-out serious gaps in drone-safety rules. Current laws dont require registration for under-250g drones‚ while major manufacturer DJI makes several models at 249g (clearly designed to avoid these rules)

At a recent counter-terrorism meeting in London Hall shared his concerns: the lack of proper rules for toy-sized drones might lead to street-level problems. These small flying gadgets – already used by criminals to send stuff into prisons – could become terrorists next tool-of-choice

Drones have been adopted by criminals and will no doubt be adopted further by terrorists

Jonathan Hall KC at Global Counterterrorism Forum

Latest numbers from june-2024 show over 365k registered drone pilots in UK. The Civil Aviation Authority reports that drone accidents dropped from 126 in 2021 to 80 last year; however police got more than 6k drone-related reports

In a related tech-security concern‚ Hall tested AI chatbots potential for spreading extreme ideas. He made a bin Laden chatbot on character.ai platform to show how easy it is: this highlights growing worries about AIs role in modern-day security risks (just as a recent lawsuit shows these platforms real-world impact)