The U.S. Treasury Department warned the financial services sector this week that artificial intelligence will become a powerful weapon for fraudsters and cyberattackers—who will, for a time, outgun defensive efforts. 

“Like other critical infrastructure sectors, the financial services sector is increasingly subject to costly cybersecurity threats and cyber-enabled fraud,” the department stated in a report released Wednesday. “As access to advanced AI tools becomes more widespread, it is likely that, at least initially, cyberthreat actors utilizing emerging AI tools will have the advantage by outpacing and outnumbering their targets.”