Please note: downloading photos from anywhere and setting them as wallpaper on your smartphone could result in your phone being hacked..

It often happens that we download photos from somewhere and set them as our wallpaper. For example, you're a fan of a big star or politician, and you go to Google and download their photo and set it on your device. This is a normal process; millions of people do this. However, recent reports indicate that doing so could expose your device to hacking, and your device's AI agent could be weaponized. Therefore, you need to be cautious to prevent your personal data from being leaked.

How Your Device Can Be Hacked
A report in Live Science states that researchers from Oxford University have published a study on arXiv.org, which explains that images can contain hidden elements that are invisible to the human eye, but these could incite your device's AI agent to commit misdeeds. Imagine you downloaded a photo of a big star from Google and set it as your wallpaper. In such a case, it's possible that some pixels of the image could be altered so that your agent, upon seeing it, would follow the wrong commands. This command could lead to dangerous actions like stealing your passwords or sharing that photo on social media. This could also lead to hacking other people's devices.

What are AI agents?
AI agents are different from AI chatbots. They don't just answer questions, they also follow your commands. If you ask them to clear your email, they can automatically open a browser, fill out a form, or press a button. These agents are becoming increasingly popular, but their risks are also increasing. If a hacker takes control of these agents, they could steal your personal information or delete your data.

Have any such cases been reported?
Thankfully, this vulnerability has only been observed in labs; no real-life cases have been reported. This threat exists only if you are using an AI agent. If you don't use such software, you're safe. But researchers say that as the use of AI agents increases, the risk of such attacks will also increase. So developers need to be cautious now.

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