AI leaders fear a 'catastrophic cyberattack' within a year

Executives at OpenAI, Anthropic and other leading AI companies are reportedly conducting private crisis simulations in anticipation of such an event. Their preparations focus on managing the political and public backlash that could follow a disaster involving advanced AI systems.

According to Axios, many senior researchers and industry insiders believe a major incident is inevitable, although the timing and precise nature of any such event remain uncertain. The scenarios under consideration include devastating cyberattacks that could temporarily shut down banking systems, communications networks and essential infrastructure.

Rather than focusing these particular exercises on preventing an incident, the companies are reportedly preparing for the fallout, including a potential public revolt against the technology and demands for sweeping government intervention.

The first major incident in which an AI system causes significant real-world damage could trigger fierce criticism of the industry's leading figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, as well as President Donald Trump, whose administration has resisted imposing stringent new regulations on AI developers.