Safe AI use in everyday lives urged

INTERNATIONAL BUREAU —A recent survey conducted by Kaspersky in the META region shows that AI is becoming part of consumers' everyday lives and users are increasingly turning to AI services for personal matters, raising new privacy and cybersecurity concerns. Almost 79% of respondents across the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region reported using AI services, including smart chatbots and image and video generation tools.

The most common use of AI is searching for and summarising information, reported by 74% of respondents, followed by writing texts at 50%, generating images from text descriptions or prompts at 42%, editing or transforming personal photos at 41%, and creating videos at 32%. Respondents rely on AI for a range of everyday needs and practical recommendations, with 37% using it for health-related questions, 29% for planning leisure activities such as weekends, vacations or parties, and 23% for preparing meal plans.

Additionally, 41% of survey participants reported using AI to seek advice on other personal issues. Experts at Kaspersky, a cybersecurity solutions provider, warn that these interactions may involve personal information, potentially creating privacy and security risks if such data is exposed, misused by third parties or accessed by cybercriminals.