After Their AI Models Hacked Real Companies, AI Labs Call for Stronger Cyber Defenses

In brief

• More than 100 organizations signed an open letter calling for stronger global cyber defenses.
• Models built by signatories OpenAI and Anthropic recently compromised real systems during security evaluations.
• The letter recommends stronger access controls, monitoring, threat sharing, and oversight of autonomous agents.

Leading AI developers are telling governments and businesses to strengthen their networks after models built by OpenAI and Anthropic compromised other companies’ systems.

In an open letter released Thursday, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more than 100 other organizations warned that AI-enabled cyberattacks are about to become more common and that companies have “a limited window to strengthen cyber defenses.”

“In the coming months, AI-enabled cyber attacks will become far more widespread and sophisticated,” the letter said. It identified hospitals, water treatment plants, and internet infrastructure among the services at risk.

The letter recommends funding defensive AI tools, sharing threat intelligence, restricting access to sensitive systems, and improving security for critical infrastructure. However, failures in those areas allowed OpenAI and Anthropic models to breach systems outside their test environments.