Google said Monday that it had disrupted a criminal group’s attempt to use artificial intelligence to exploit another company’s previously unknown digital vulnerability, adding to heightened worries across government and private industry about AI’s risks for cybersecurity.
Google shared limited information about the attackers and the target, but John Hultquist, chief analyst at the tech giant’s threat intelligence arm, said it represents a moment cybersecurity experts have warned about for years: malicious hackers arming themselves with AI to supercharge their ability to break into the world’s computers.
“It’s here,” Hultquist said. “The era of AI-driven vulnerability and exploitation is already here.”
It comes at a time of leaps in AI’s abilities to find vulnerabilities, including the Mythos model announced a month ago by Anthropic. Among those trying to bolster their defenses is President Donald Trump’s White House, which has shifted its approach in how it plans to vet the most powerful AI models before their public release.
After following through with a campaign promise to repeal Democratic President Joe Biden’s guardrails around the fast-developing technology, the Republican administration and its allies are now sending mixed signals about the government playing a larger role in AI oversight.