OpenAI flags possible critical cybersecurity risk in upcoming model, tightens controls

OpenAI said on Friday it cannot rule out that its upcoming AI model, Astra, has “critical” cybersecurity capabilities, prompting the startup to pause some internal development and trigger safety protocols.

Under OpenAI’s safety guidelines, a model reaches the “critical” threshold if it can autonomously identify and exploit severe, real-world software vulnerabilities, known ‌as zero-day ⁠exploits, or ⁠execute complex cyberattacks against highly secure targets without human intervention.