LEGAL CHALLENGES IN REGULATING AI-POWERED HACKING, PHISHING, AND IDENTITY THEFT

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved at an extremely fast pace, both improving the security defenses and allowing cybercrime to become more complex and sophisticated. Some of the most urgent ones are AI-based hacking, phishing, and identity theft, which use machine learning, natural language processing and deepfakes technologies to avoid being noticed and attacking individuals, corporations and governments. These AI-based threats are scale-based, precise and flexible unlike conventional cybercrimes and this compounds regulation responses.

This paper discusses the issues of legal regulation of AI-based cyber-crimes, their jurisdiction, attribution, evidentiary standards, corporate liability, and human rights. It is a critical examination of current legal provisions in India, the United States, the European Union and international provisions like the Budapest Convention. The work points out the failure of the outdated laws to anticipate the risks posed by AI, and it also points out technical constraints in the enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute those crimes.

The paper proposes a special regulation of the AI-related types of cybercrime, the internationalization of the legislative framework, and strengthening regimes of data protection. It also highlights the necessity of adaptive legal frameworks, a combination of the public and the private spheres, and law enforcement capacity building. Uniting the comparative understandings and policy recommendations, the article aims to bring a balance between innovation and security, making sure that the resilience to upcoming AI-driven cyber threats is enabled.