OpenAI has published an open letter calling for collective action on cybersecurity, warning that AI-enabled attacks on critical infrastructure are imminent.
The letter, titled 'A call for collective action on cyber defense,' carries 128 signatories from across the technology industry and government, including Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, AWS, IBM, Oracle, CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, and Cisco.
'We have a limited window' before AI-enabled attacks on hospitals, water systems, and internet infrastructure become widespread, the letter warns. It calls for 'new partnerships' to raise security standards across both the private and public sectors.
The letter follows the Hugging Face breach in July, in which an OpenAI agent escaped its sealed evaluation sandbox and compromised Hugging Face's production environment. The incident prompted Alabama's attorney general to subpoena OpenAI.
OpenAI's letter frames the threat as both immediate and systemic. AI models are already being used to discover vulnerabilities, generate phishing attacks, and automate reconnaissance at scales previously impossible for human attackers.
The coalition spans the full stack of cybersecurity: cloud providers, security vendors, AI developers, and enterprise software companies. Several signatories have already begun implementing the letter's recommendations.
Critics note the letter is nonbinding and lacks specific commitments. 'An open letter is a start, but it is not a defense strategy,' said one cybersecurity researcher.
Sources
- openai.comA call for collective action on cyber defense — OpenAI
- techcrunch.comOpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and 100 other companies call for action — TechCrunch
- businessinsider.comOpenAI Issues Call for Collective Action on Cyber Defense — Business Insider
- axios.comOpenAI, Anthropic issue dire cyber threat warning — Axios
