DARPA Announces AI Cyber Challenge in 2023

By Aarti Dhapte , 06 September, 2023

Defense advanced research projects agency (DARPA) under the United States government launched an AI Cyber Challenge two-year program in August 2023. The challenge invites computer scientists, developers, and others to participate in the artificial intelligence and cybersecurity-based program.

AI Cyber Challenge will be organized in collaboration with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, where Linux Foundation's Open-Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) is the chief advisor. The program aims to drive innovative ideas of AI and cybersecurity to develop a new set of cybersecurity tools. According to the DARPA program, the officials want to create technology to protect the software from malware attacks. They added that artificial intelligence's responsible usage could transform and help secure organizations' technological codes. As per the DARPA, the lack of tools to defend against cyberattacks is the main reason behind securing systems at scale. Therefore, the organization says advancement in modern technologies can contribute to cybersecurity in a significant way.

DARPA's new challenge based on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence offers USD 18.5 million in total for prizes. It also allows US-based competitors to come forward with solutions and enable new methods to defend the software that runs on critical infrastructure code using artificial intelligence. DARPA will support the small businesses participating in the challenge with USD 1 million to enhance their tools. The organization's officials also view that AI cyber-Challenge will pave the way for high demands of AI in society, and its implementation in the tech world will defend the cyberattacks, among others.