A new paper issued this week by trade group BSA | The Software Alliance is urging policymakers to promote the use of AI as a tool to improve cybersecurity and counter malicious cyber actors.

BSA is an industry advocacy group working on behalf of the global software industry. In the paper, the trade group outlines policy considerations for leaders worldwide – including promoting AI as a key cyber defence tool.

“BSA members are developing AI-enabled tools that help to better counter malicious actors, and better protect customers and citizens,” BSA Director of Policy Henry Young said in a press release accompanying the paper. “As policymakers worldwide form rules governing the development and use of artificial intelligence, a risk-based approach will help to promote rather than inhibit the use of AI for cybersecurity.”

The paper calls on policymakers to focus regulatory efforts on “high-risk AI,” and require the developers and deployers of high-risk AI to establish risk management programs and conduct impact assessments for those risks.

It also advises policymakers to consider protecting data transfers, noting that allowing data to securely move across borders is key to delivering “the best cybersecurity outcomes.”

Finally, BSA said it wants policymakers in like-minded countries to coordinate on their efforts to advance the use of AI for cybersecurity, “including through the use of internationally-recognized standards.”