There Are Likely More Spies at AI Companies, Says Security Executive Lisa Thiergart

AI Summary

Security executive Lisa Thiergart warned that foreign intelligence services may be seeking access to US AI companies and their models. The article discusses vulnerabilities in AI data centers and an incident in which OpenAI accused an employee of concealing a recording device in an office conference room.

Other countries likely haven’t yet stolen AI models from leading U.S. companies—but only for a lack of trying, said Lisa Thiergart, co-founder and CEO of Security Level 5, a startup that works with AI companies and the intelligence community to secure AI data centers. “If a nation state really wanted to steal the weights right now, they could. However, I think that they have cheaper ways to get what they need,” she said on the latest episode of AI Deep Dive. (The full episode is available here.) The episode was recorded shortly after OpenAI accused one of its employees, a Saudi national, of hiding a recording device in an office conference room. In the interview, Thiergart said it is “pretty likely” that there are other spies in U.S. AI companies—a suspicion buttressed by recent reports from the New York Times and the Financial Times that some U.S. officials believed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with a Chinese businesswoman recruited as a spy by China’s top intelligence agency.