AI-Generated Objects for Cyber Defensive Purposes as Intellectual Property

In my DPhil project, I intend to bring novel, updated and illuminating insights into the topic of computational creativity in the context of current state of the art in artificial intelligence algorithms deployed in network defence. My Thesis will feature a legal assessment of whether objects generated by artificial intelligence-driven systems qualify for copyright and patent protection under the current legal regimes in Europe and in the United Kingdom. It should also contain recommendations towards adaptations of intellectual property laws for the emerging realities of computational creativity. If these objects generated by an artificial intelligence-driven network defence system were protectable by intellectual property rights, it could eventually lead to rapid sharing and spread of cyber-security knowledge, enhanced trust in information communication technologies and stability for economies and democracy.

This research project is linked the EPSRC Cyber Security Theme and Law

It is part of the nature of Cyber Security - and a key reason for the urgency in developing new research approaches - that it now is a concern of every section of society, and so the successful CDT will have a very broad impact indeed. We will ensure impact for:

* The IT industry; vendors of hardware and software, and within this the IT Security industry;

* High value/high assurance sectors such as banking, bio-medical domains, and critical infrastructure, and more generally the CISO community across many industries;

* The mobile systems community, mobile service providers, handset and platform manufacturers, those developing the technologies of the internet of things, and smart cities;

* Defence sector, MoD/DSTL in particular, defence contractors, and the intelligence community;

* The public sector more generally, in its own activities and in increasingly important electronic engagement with the citizen;

* The not-for-profit sector, education, charities, and NGOs - many of whom work in highly contended contexts, but do not always have access to high-grade cyber defensive skills.

Impact in each of these will be achieved in fresh elaborations of threat and risk models; by developing new fundamental design approaches; through new methods of evaluation, incorporating usability criteria, privacy, and other societal concerns; and by developing prototype and proof-of-concept solutions exhibiting these characteristics. These impacts will retain focus through the way that the educational and research programme is structured - so that the academic and theoretical components are directed towards practical and anticipated problems motivated by the sectors listed here.