If you're meticulously building strong, unique passwords for every online account, you're already ahead of the curve. You understand the fundamental truth: robust security hinges on unique credentials for each digital doorstep. But what if the very tool you trust to make your digital life easier -- AI -- is actually putting your security at risk?
It's easy to assume advanced AI chatbots could effortlessly spit out uncrackable passwords. After all, they handle complex tasks with ease, from drafting emails to generating code. Yet, when it comes to creating truly secure, random passwords, here's why you should pause before trusting them. AI-generated passwords are often predictable and repetitive, making them vulnerable to hackers who can exploit these underlying patterns.
The Illusion of AI-Generated Security
You ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for a strong password, and it delivers a jumble of characters, numbers, and symbols. It looks robust, right? Perhaps it even passes a basic password strength checker. The truth, however, is far more unsettling than it appears on the surface.
Researchers recently put AI-generated passwords to the test, and the findings are a stark warning. According to a study highlighted by Malwarebytes Labs, these passwords were found to be "highly predictable" and "not truly random" (Malwarebytes, 2023). Claude, for instance, showed a concerning lack of originality, generating only 23 unique passwords out of 50 prompts. In one notable instance, it repeated the exact same password 10 times. Similar flaws were identified across other advanced AI systems, including various versions of GPT and Gemini (The Register, 2023).
The real measure of a password's strength isn't just its length or character variety, but its 'entropy' - essentially, how unpredictable it is. Think of it as the sheer number of possibilities a hacker would have to sift through. Researchers evaluated the entropy of AI-generated passwords, and the results were alarming: only 27 bits and 20 bits in two different tests. For truly robust security, passwords should ideally hit 98 bits or even 120 bits. That's a massive, critical gap that AI simply isn't bridging.
To illustrate, imagine an AI that, without explicit instruction, always starts a generated password with a capital letter and ends with a number, like StrongWord!7. Even if the middle part is varied, this inherent pattern drastically reduces the actual randomness. Or consider an AI trained on vast amounts of text, including common dictionary words. It might predictably combine words like SunshineRiver!7 or BlueSky_23, creating a seemingly complex but ultimately guessable sequence. This inherent patterning is here's why you should never rely on these tools for your most sensitive data.
How Predictability Becomes a Weakness
This isn't just a technical quirk; it's a gaping security flaw that bad actors can readily exploit. If chatbots repeat passwords, or generate them following discernible patterns, it stands to reason that many users might end up with similar or identical credentials. Hackers can run the same prompts, collect these common (or patterned) passwords into massive word banks, and then use them in targeted break-in attempts. If your password came from an LLM, it could be on their list.
You might be thinking, "But why would an advanced AI struggle with randomness?" The answer lies in how these large language models (LLMs) are fundamentally designed. LLMs are trained to predict the next 'token' or data point that should appear in a sequence. Their core function is to generate text that makes sense, that is coherent and contextually appropriate, based on the vast datasets they've ingested. This predictive nature is the exact opposite of true randomness.
When an LLM generates a password, it's essentially trying to choose characters that "make the most sense" to appear next, often influenced by patterns it learned from existing password examples in its training data (CyberSecurity Institute, 2024). It isn't programmed to be truly random, like rolling dice or drawing from a hat. Think of it like a human trying to pick random lottery numbers; we often fall into subconscious patterns or avoid certain sequences, even when trying to be random. LLMs operate on a far more complex, but similarly patterned, computational level. And here's why you should understand this fundamental limitation.
Crafting Truly Secure Passwords (and Beyond)
So, if AI isn't the answer, what is? The good news is that creating truly secure and unique passwords isn't difficult, and you have several reliable options at your disposal.
Traditional password managers are your first line of defense. Unlike LLMs, these applications are specifically designed to produce truly random sequences. They achieve this by taking cryptographic bits and converting them into characters, generating outputs that are not based on existing training data and follow no discernible patterns (Digital Guardian Report, 2023). The chances of someone else having the same password, or of a hacker having it stored in a word bank, are incredibly slim. Many reputable password managers come with built-in, robust password generators, and here's why you should consider using one.
But you don't even need a dedicated program to make a secure password. A simple, yet effective, method is to pick two or three "uncommon" words, combine them, and then mix in a few special characters and numbers. For example, you could take the words "elephant," "whisper," and "moonlight," and combine them into something like elephant-whisper_moonlight!9. (Just don't use that exact one, as it's no longer unique once publicly shared!) This approach creates memorable, yet highly complex, passwords that are difficult for both humans and machines to guess. Here's why you should try this method if you prefer a more manual approach.
The Future of Security: Passkeys
Ready to leapfrog beyond traditional passwords entirely? Passkeys represent the next frontier in digital security, offering both enhanced protection and unparalleled convenience. With passkeys, your trusted device effectively becomes your password.
Instead of creating and remembering complex character strings, you use your device's built-in authentication methods - like a face scan, fingerprint, or PIN - to log in. This means there's no password to actually create, store, or potentially leak. Without your trusted device, hackers can't break into your account. It's a powerful combination of security and ease-of-use that eliminates many of the vulnerabilities inherent in password systems.
While not all accounts support passkeys yet, their adoption is growing rapidly. They aren't a universal solution right now, meaning you'll likely still need strong, properly generated passwords for some of your online accounts. However, replacing even a few of your passwords with passkeys can be a significant step up in both security and convenience - and definitively avoids the security pitfalls of asking an AI chatbot to make your passwords for you. Here's why you should start exploring passkeys today to future-proof your digital security.
