The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence: The Threat of Unrestricted Large Language Models

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, advanced models from the GPT series to Gemini are profoundly changing our way of life. However, alongside technological advancements, a concerning issue is gradually emerging - the appearance of unrestricted or malicious large language models and their potential threats.

Unrestricted language models refer to those AI systems that are deliberately designed, modified, or hacked to bypass the built-in safety mechanisms and ethical constraints of mainstream models. Mainstream AI developers typically invest significant resources to prevent their models from being used to generate harmful content or provide illegal instructions. However, in recent years, some individuals or organizations, motivated by inappropriate intentions, have begun to seek or develop unconstrained models on their own. This article will explore typical cases of such unrestricted models, potential abuses in the cryptocurrency field, as well as related security challenges and response strategies.

The Threat of Unrestricted Language Models

The emergence of such models has greatly lowered the technical barrier for implementing cyber attacks. Tasks that previously required specialized knowledge, such as writing malicious code, creating phishing emails, and planning scams, can now be easily undertaken by ordinary individuals lacking programming experience, thanks to unrestricted models. Attackers only need to obtain the weights and source code of open-source models and fine-tune them with datasets containing malicious content or illegal instructions to create customized attack tools.

This trend brings multiple risks:

• Attackers can "customize" models for specific targets, generating more deceptive content that can bypass conventional AI content moderation.
• The model can be used to quickly generate variant codes for phishing websites or to tailor scam copy for different platforms.
• The accessibility of open-source models is fostering the formation of an underground AI ecosystem, providing a breeding ground for illegal trading and development.

Typical Unrestricted Language Models and Their Threats

WormGPT: Dark Version of GPT

WormGPT is a malicious AI model openly sold on underground forums, with developers claiming it has no ethical limitations. Based on open-source models like GPT-J 6B, it is trained on a large amount of malware-related data. Users can obtain one month of access for only $189. Its typical abuses in the cryptocurrency field include:

• Generate highly realistic phishing emails that impersonate exchanges or projects to induce users to disclose their private keys.
• Assist attackers with limited technical ability in writing malicious code to steal wallet files, monitor the clipboard, etc.
• Drive automated scams, intelligently reply to potential victims, and guide them to participate in fraudulent projects.

DarkBERT: A Double-Edged Sword for Dark Web Content

DarkBERT was developed by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, pre-trained on dark web data, originally intended to assist in cybersecurity research. However, if the sensitive content it masters is misused, it could lead to:

• Implementing targeted scams: collecting cryptocurrency user information for social engineering fraud.
• Copying criminal methods: Imitating mature coin theft and money laundering strategies from the dark web.

FraudGPT: A multifunctional tool for online fraud

FraudGPT claims to be an upgraded version of WormGPT, primarily sold on the dark web, with monthly fees ranging from $200 to $1,700. Its potential abuses in the crypto space include:

• Fake cryptocurrency projects: Generate realistic whitepapers, official websites, etc., for fraudulent ICOs.
• Batch generation of phishing pages: Quickly replicate the login interface of well-known exchanges.
• Social media deception: mass production of false comments to promote scam tokens.
• Social engineering attacks: Imitating human conversation to lure users into disclosing sensitive information.

GhostGPT: An AI assistant without moral constraints

GhostGPT is explicitly positioned as a chat robot with no moral restrictions, and its potential threats in the cryptocurrency field include:

• Advanced phishing attacks: Generate highly realistic fake notification emails.
• Malicious code generation for smart contracts: quickly create contracts with hidden backdoors.
• Polymorphic Cryptocurrency Stealer: Generates difficult-to-detect morphing malware.
• Social engineering attacks: Deploying scam bots on social platforms using AI-generated scripts.
• Deepfake scams: Using other AI tools to impersonate project teams' voices to carry out scams.

Venice.ai: Potential risks of uncensored access

Venice.ai provides access to a variety of less restricted AI models. Although positioned as an open exploration platform, it may also be misused for:

• Bypassing censorship to generate malicious content: using models with fewer restrictions to create attack materials.
• Lowering the threshold for prompt engineering: Simplifying the difficulty of obtaining restricted outputs.
• Accelerate the iteration of attack scripts: quickly test and optimize fraud scripts.

Conclusion

The emergence of unrestricted language models signifies that cybersecurity is facing more complex, scaled, and automated new types of threats. This not only lowers the threshold for attacks but also brings about more covert and deceptive risks.

Addressing this challenge requires collaborative efforts from all parties in the security ecosystem: increasing investment in detection technologies and developing systems that can identify AI-generated malicious content; promoting the construction of model jailbreak prevention capabilities and exploring watermarking and tracing mechanisms; establishing sound ethical norms and regulatory mechanisms to restrict the development and misuse of malicious models at the source. Only through a multi-faceted approach can we find a balance between AI technology and security, and build a safer and more trustworthy digital future.