On your pros and cons list for A.I., add this to the cons side: Now it can steal your password just by LISTENING to you type.
A team at Cornell found out it's possible by training an A.I. to do it. They had it listen in while they hit each key on a keyboard 25 times, and it learned what each one sounded like.
It's something hackers could use if they were sitting near you in a place like Starbucks. So the researchers basically created those conditions for their test.
They used a phone to listen in on people typing, and the A.I. was able to guess which keys they were hitting with 95% accuracy. Then they tried it over Zoom, and it was still right 93% of the time.
It works by analyzing the sound each keystroke makes, and also how quickly one key is typed after another. For example, it might take you longer to hit the "X" on your keyboard than the "A".
Experts say it's more proof that how we log into stuff needs to change. Instead of typing passwords in, things like fingerprints and automatic password managers will be the way to go.