Artificial intelligence is an incentive for organized crime

The European Union’s law enforcement agency “Europol” has warned that artificial intelligence and other technologies are an incentive for the organized crime that undermines the foundations of societies throughout the union as it intertwines with campaigns to destabilize states sponsored by states.

The warning came in conjunction with the launch of the last edition of the Organized Crime Report, issued by the Europol Agency every four years, which is collected using police data throughout the European Union, and will contribute to the drafting of law enforcement policies in the Union in the coming years.

“The electronic crime develops into a digital arms race targeting governments, companies and individuals, and the attacks driven by artificial intelligence have become more accurate and destructive,” said Belgian Catherine de Ball, Executive Director of Europol.

She added: “Some attacks show a mixture of profit motives and destabilization, as they have become more biased to countries and driven by specific ideologies.”

The European Union evaluation report for the threats of organized and serious crime for the year 2025 stated that the crimes, which range from drug trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, electronic attacks, and online fraud, are undermined society and the rule of law “by generating illegal returns, spreading violence, and normalizing corruption.”

The report pointed out that the size of the banned material available on the Internet has increased significantly thanks to artificial intelligence, which makes it difficult to analyze images and identify the perpetrators.

The report added: “By creating realistic artificial media, criminals can deceive the victims, impersonate the personalities of individuals and discredit or blackmail targets. The addition of cloning of the voices supported by artificial intelligence and fake videos deeply exacerbated the threat, which provides new forms of fraud, extortion and theft of identity.”

The report pointed out that the countries that seek to achieve geopolitical gains also use criminals as contracted, pointing to electronic attacks against biological infrastructure and public institutions “coming from some countries.

The report stated that “the hybrid and traditional electronic crime bodies will be increasingly intertwined, as the parties sponsored by the state are hidden in the form of Internet criminals to hide their real origins and motives for sabotage.”

The report added that artificial intelligence and other technologies “constitute an incentive for crime and enhance the efficiency of criminal operations by increasing their speed, scope and development.”

While the European Commission in Brussels is preparing to launch a new internal security policy, Catherine de Ball confirmed that countries in Europe need to address these threats urgently.

“We must integrate security in everything we do,” said Magnus Bronmermen. He added that the European Union aims to provide sufficient funds in the coming years to double the number of europols employees.