The research, which was conducted by interviewing a total of 5 thousand people from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa and Türkiye, shows that artificial intelligence has become a part of consumers' daily lives.
Accordingly, 76 percent of participants in Türkiye use artificial intelligence services such as smart chat bots, visual and video production tools. Users use artificial intelligence to search for information and summarize with 79 percent, and to write text with 37 percent. Other prominent usage areas include editing or converting personal photos with 39 percent, producing images from text commands with 35 percent, and preparing videos with 29 percent.
Research results show that artificial intelligence is not only a business and task-oriented assistant, but is also increasingly turning into a source of advice on more personal matters.
Users in Türkiye rely on artificial intelligence for many daily needs and practical suggestions, including health-related questions (40 percent), planning free time such as weekends, holidays or parties (32 percent) and preparing a nutrition plan (24 percent). 42 percent of the participants state that they also receive advice from artificial intelligence on other personal issues.
The fact that users are increasingly resorting to artificial intelligence services on more personal issues brings with it new concerns in terms of personal data protection and cyber security.
Kaspersky experts point out that these interactions may require the sharing of personal information. Disclosure of information, misuse by third parties or falling into the hands of cybercriminals may pose a risk to the privacy and security of personal data.
Another important source of concern is users' trust in the accuracy of the content produced by artificial intelligence. Approximately 1 in 10 participants in Türkiye state that they have encountered erroneous information produced by artificial intelligence, while 30 percent believe that artificial intelligence can give misleading answers.
Company experts, who make suggestions to minimize cyber security risks when using artificial intelligence, warn that sensitive or confidential information such as documents, private correspondence, passwords, payment information and health data should not be shared with artificial intelligence services and should be avoided from being uploaded to these platforms.
Experts recommend checking how the artificial intelligence service processes data before using it, examining what information the service collects and how this information can be processed, stored or used for other purposes.
Experts state that verifying the information produced by artificial intelligence from reliable sources is especially important in education, finance, law and health issues, and that incorrect answers given in these areas can lead to serious consequences, and that one should be careful against fake artificial intelligence services and artificial intelligence-themed frauds.
"Cyber criminals also benefit from artificial intelligence"
Kaspersky Middle East, Türkiye and Africa Consumer Channel President Seifallah Jedidi, whose views were included in the statement, stated that users should be aware of the limits of artificial intelligence services and the risks they may bring.
Pointing out that widely used artificial intelligence platforms may have security vulnerabilities that could lead to data disclosure, Jedidi said:
Information shared with these platforms may be processed or accessed by third parties, depending on the service used and relevant policies. Therefore, it is important to develop digital habits such as verifying information from different and reliable sources, being careful when sharing personal data, and critically evaluating the answers produced by artificial intelligence. Users should be aware that cybercriminals are also increasingly using fake AI agents and services to spread malware. These tools can sometimes be offered to deceive users by imitating well-known artificial intelligence sources.
