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David Wells is a global security consultant and an Honorary Research Associate at Swansea University’s Cyber Threats Research Centre. His work focuses on developing responses to emerging terrorism challenges, with a focus on the relationship between new technologies and terrorism and counter-terrorism.
Between 2017 and 2022, he was Head of Research and Analysis at the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Directorate in New York, monitoring terrorism trends for the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Security Council. David began his career coordinating international counter-terrorism investigations for the United Kingdom’s intelligence agency GCHQ, and subsequently worked for multiple agencies in the Australian intelligence community in a variety of practitioner and policy roles.
The Next Paradigm-Shattering Threat? Right-Sizing the Potential Impacts of Generative AI on Terrorism
This Study analyzes how and to what extent terrorists and violent extremists have interacted with generative AI so far, identifies potential ways in which they could misuse generative AI in the future, and then contextualizes these threats with the likely broader impacts of generative AI. In doing so, the Study seeks to identify a likely trajectory for the abuse of this technology by terrorist actors as well as concludes with some initial recommendations for policymakers.
