SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Artificial intelligence or AI has made headlines recently with companies launching chatbots and other services, but AI can also be used by criminals for their own benefit.

Authorities say AI is software capable of making decisions on its own without input from a real person. Zac Croft is a detective for the Sioux City Police Department. He says Siouxland has faced its fair share of cybercrimes over the years.

“A lot of scams preying on people’s emotions, trying to get them with fear and anxiety and create a sense of urgency,” Croft said.

He said the emergence of A.I. could bring a new wave of cybercrime with it. But so far, that hasn’t happened yet.

“From a law enforcement standpoint, I can’t say that we’ve seen anything specifically that involves artificial intelligence, at least that we know about, but it certainly increases the difficulty in solving cases,” Croft said.

AI is still fairly new, so Croft said authorities need to keep up to date on the latest cybercriminal tactics. But experts say that’s hard to do.

KC Santosh teaches computer science at the University of South Dakota. He said catching cyber criminals has always been difficult and while AI could be used to stop crime as well as commit it Santosh says one side has an advantage. 

“With computers, they move so fast as compared to what we’re looking at. We have to have so many rules, but criminal acts don’t have rules to do to attack people,” he said.  

Despite the risks, Santosh said people shouldn’t overlook AI’s benefits.

“It is not just for computer science and computer scientists,” he said. “It is for varieties of projects happening in the world, starting with healthcare, digital humanities to business and to finance.”