Computer viruses can spread by using ChatGPT to write sneaky emails

Researchers have shown that a computer virus can use ChatGPT to rewrite its code to avoid detection, then write tailored emails that look like genuine replies, spreading itself in an email attachment.

As well as producing human-like text, large language models (LLMs) – the artificial intelligences behind powerful chatbots like ChatGPT – can also write computer code. David Zollikofer at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Benjamin Zimmerman at Ohio State University are concerned that this facility could be exploited by viruses that rewrite their own code, known as metamorphic malware.