Sam Altman's OpenAI rallies 100+ tech giants as AI cyberattack countdown begins
The next hacker may not be human. Sam Altman warns that AI could launch cyberattacks faster than people can detect or stop them. Here's what's going on!
“There is not much time to act.” That was OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s warning on X as more than 100 organisations joined OpenAI in calling for a coordinated push to strengthen cyber defences against increasingly capable AI-powered attacks.
The initiative has support from major companies across AI, cloud, cybersecurity, finance and digital infrastructure, including Anthropic, AWS, Google, Microsoft, CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, IBM, Mastercard, Visa and Oracle.
The announcement is a call for coordinated action rather than a new cybersecurity product launch.
Why AI is changing the cyber threat
AI is changing both sides of cybersecurity. Attackers can use it to find weak points, create convincing phishing messages, automate parts of hacking campaigns and adapt their tactics faster.
Defenders can use the same technology to identify vulnerabilities, prioritise threats and support security teams that are often stretched for time and resources.
The problem is that many organisations are still dealing with basic security gaps such as unpatched software, weak authentication, misconfigured systems, excessive permissions and ageing technology.
These problems are not new. AI could simply make them easier to exploit at greater speed and scale. That is why Altman’s warning focuses on timing. “We have a limited window to strengthen cyber defences,” he said in his X post.
What OpenAI wants organisations to do
The initiative puts responsibility on leaders to make cybersecurity an immediate priority. Organisations are being urged to fix their highest-risk vulnerabilities, strengthen access controls and raise security standards for the software they build or buy, including AI-generated code.
Cybersecurity and technology companies are also being encouraged to continuously test systems against advanced threats, improve defensive tools with AI and share useful threat intelligence. Governments have a role too.
OpenAI is calling for greater coordination across local, national and international levels, along with funding and support to help essential services such as hospitals and utilities access trusted defensive AI tools.
The race is now on both sides
OpenAI’s warning comes as concerns grow that increasingly capable AI could lower the cost of sophisticated cyberattacks. But the company is not arguing that AI should be kept away from cybersecurity. Quite the opposite.
Its message is that defenders need access to the same technology, along with better training, funding and security tools. That matters because the potential targets are not limited to large technology companies.
Hospitals, water treatment facilities and the infrastructure that keeps the internet running could all face greater pressure. Cybersecurity can no longer sit quietly in the IT department.
As AI makes attacks more capable, building the defences needs to become a leadership-level priority. And according to Altman, waiting for the threat to become obvious may mean waiting too long.