By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, June 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) is

offering free of charge to European governments a cybersecurity

programme, launched on Wednesday, to bolster their defences

against cyber threats, including those enhanced by artificial

intelligence, it said.

After a surge in cyberattacks in Europe, many linked to

state-sponsored actors from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia,

the programme aims to boost intelligence-sharing on AI-based

threats and help to prevent and disrupt attacks.

"If we can bring more to Europe of what we have developed in

the United States, that will strengthen cybersecurity protection

for more European institutions," Microsoft ( MSFT ) President Brad Smith

told Reuters in an interview.

"You're going to see other things we are doing later in the

month."

Increasingly, attackers employ generative AI to amplify the

scale and impact of their operations that range from disrupting

critical infrastructure to spreading disinformation.

Although malicious actors have weaponised AI, Smith said AI

also offered defensive tools.

"We don't feel that we have seen AI that has evaded our

ability to detect the use of AI or the threats more broadly,"

Smith said.

"Our goal needs to be to keep AI advancing as a defensive

tool faster than it advances as an offensive weapon," he said.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) tracks any malicious use of AI models it releases

and prevents known cybercriminals from using its AI products.

AI-driven deepfakes have included a portrayal of Ukrainian

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy capitulating to Russian demands in

2022 and a fake audio recording in 2023 that influenced the

Slovakian election.

Smith said so far audio had been easier to fake than video.