San Francisco

THE attack had the hallmark of something researchers had dreaded for years: malicious software using artificial intelligence (AI) that could lead to a new digital arms race in which AI-driven defences battled AI-driven offensives while humans watched from the sidelines.

But what was not as widely predicted was that one of the earliest instances of that sort of malware was found in India, not in a sophisticated British banking system or a government network in the United States.