Major tech companies call for defensive surge to defeat AI-driven hacks

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 : Major tech companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are calling for a society-wide defensive surge to defeat what they describe as an impending wave of hacks driven by artificial intelligence.

In a joint letter issued Thursday, the companies - along with more than 100 others including Broadcom, Capital One, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, General Motors, IBM, Mastercard, Oracle, Robinhood, Shopify, and Visa - said there was a limited amount of time "to make our digital world much more secure" ahead of the AI onslaught.

"In the coming months, AI-enabled cyberattacks will become far more widespread as models around the world become increasingly capable," the letter said. It called on government and industry leaders "to bring the full weight of their technology, resources, and expertise to this effort."

It called on governments to expedite trusted access programs, which give certain companies access to more powerful models ahead of the general public, and for all other organizations to "make cyber defense an immediate leadership priority."

Fears that advances in AI will supercharge hacking campaigns are beginning to be realized as rogue elements increasingly deploy large language models to break into organizations around the world. In June, the world's "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance - composed of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - issued a rare joint statement warning that the AI revolution was poised to "fundamentally transform" cybersecurity.

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