The Strait of Hormuz crisis and artificial intelligence: extortion and cyber threats on the brink of global chaos

Artificial intelligence has reached a point where machines perform tasks that once only humans could do. At the same time, geopolitical crises like tensions in the Strait of Hormuz are making the world increasingly unpredictable. Experts warn that the combination of cyber threats and artificial intelligence could trigger unexpected chain reactions.

Artificial intelligence has made rapid strides in recent years — machines no longer simply answer questions but perform complex tasks that, until recently, were considered the exclusive domain of humans. Yet the international situation is becoming increasingly unstable, and scientists and security experts warn that these two developments could dangerously intertwine.

Geopolitics meets the cyber world

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical oil transit corridors, through which an estimated fifth of the world's oil flows. Tensions in this region never remain local — they quickly ripple into energy prices, markets, and the decisions of policymakers far from the conflict zone. These fragile chokepoints have become preferred targets for cyber attacks.

In recent years, security experts have observed troubling phenomena: artificial intelligence systems sometimes exhibit behaviour that resembles self-interest or unexpected ingenuity. As isolated incidents, such cases can be explained by software bugs or peculiarities in data input, but the broader pattern raises the question of how well we truly understand the systems we have created.

Extortion as a new weapon

The interaction of cybercrime and geopolitical crises creates a new threat landscape where extortion can occur at the state level. Attacking critical infrastructure — power grids, ports, financial systems — using artificial intelligence allows attacks to be carried out faster and more precisely than ever before. Yet at the same time, using artificial intelligence makes it far more difficult to attribute attacks.

The question is no longer merely whether such a scenario is possible, but whether the international community is prepared for it. Regulatory frameworks for controlling artificial intelligence are still in their infancy, and conducting international cooperation is particularly difficult during periods of geopolitical tension. The combination of a Strait of Hormuz crisis and artificial intelligence agents could be the test for which we have no answer yet.