OpenAI unveils plan to protect critical services from AI cyberattacks

OpenAI is launching a new initiaitve designed to provide subsidized access to its models to water systems, electricity providers, local governments and other critical services.

Why it matters: Critical infrastructure organizations — which have long lacked the budget, manpower and time needed to shore up their cyber defenses — have been struggling to prepare for the anticipated wave of AI-enabled cyberattacks.

Driving the news: OpenAI president Greg Brockman announced the new program while hosting 300 security leaders for a summit at the company's headquarters Thursday.

• Axios first reported on the summit and Brockman's anticipated announcement.

Zoom in: OpenAI is committing $1 billion to a new Daybreak for Frontline Defenders initiative focused on protecting essential services around the world.

• The $1 billion will come in the form of expanded subsidized access to models, training, technical support and partnerships for participating organizations.
• OpenAI is also launching Daybreak for America program, which will provide access to its models to local governments, water systems, electricity providers, regional banks and other critical infrastructure.
• As part of Daybreak for America, OpenAI is starting a pilot program with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center to train cyber defenders at state and local governments on using their models.
• OpenAI is also working with more than 35 technology and cybersecurity services to embed the AI lab's advanced models into their tools, services and workflows.

Threat level: For years, cyber officials have feared that AI models will soon be capable of autonomously discovering and chaining together vulnerabilities in complex systems that power public utilities and services.

• While frontier labs like OpenAI have largely restricted access to the advanced cyber capabilities of their most powerful models, rapid improvements in open-weight models' capabilities are raising fears that AI-enabled attacks will be here sooner than anticipated.
• OpenAI says the new program will allow lesser-resourced utilities to review legacy code, analyze suspicious activity, identify and validate vulnerabilities, prioritize the most serious risks and develop and test security patches.

Reality check: Expanding services and training doesn't solve all of the security problems that have plagued critical infrastructure for decades — which AI-enabled tools will likely now exacerbate.

• Many entities also need more workers who understand the nuances of protecting the physical systems they're trying to defend from digital threats.

Go deeper: AI is supercharging hacks of everyday utilities