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Adversarial AI Testcases for Maritime Autonomous Systems

The open access peer-reviewed article “Adversarial AI Testcases for Maritime Autonomous Systems” by Matthew J Walter, Aaron Barrett, David J. Walker Aaron BarrettDavid J. Walker, and Kimberly Tam at the University of Plymouth recognizes that “Contemporary maritime operations such as shipping are a vital component constituting global trade and defence. The evolution towards maritime autonomous systems, often providing significant benefits (e.g., cost, physical safety), requires the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the functions of a conventional crew. However, unsecured AI systems can be plagued with vulnerabilities naturally inherent within complex AI models. The adversarial AI threat, primarily only evaluated in a laboratory environment, increases the likelihood of strategic adversarial exploitation and attacks on mission-critical AI, including maritime autonomous systems. This work evaluates AI threats to maritime autonomous systems in situ. The results show that multiple attacks can be used against real-world maritime autonomous systems with a range of lethality. However, the effects of AI attacks vary in a dynamic and complex environment from that proposed in lower entropy laboratory environments. We propose a set of adversarial test examples and demonstrate their use, specifically in the marine environment. The results of this paper highlight security risks and deliver a set of principles to mitigate threats to AI, throughout the AI lifecycle, in an evolving threat landscape.”

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