OpenAI and Over 100 Tech Companies Call for Collective Action on Cyber Defense: ‘We Have a Limited Window’

OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, Microsoft, and over 100 other technology companies released an open letter on Thursday, urging collective action to strengthen cyber defenses against AI-enabled attacks. The letter warns that AI models are becoming increasingly capable, making it easier for hackers to target critical systems such as hospitals, water treatment plants, and internet infrastructure.

The companies urge governments, organizations, and businesses to recognize that current security measures are insufficient and call for the deployment of "cyber-capable AI" to address longstanding bugs, excessive permissions, misconfigurations, insecure software, weak authentication, and technical debt in legacy systems. They urge organizations to prioritize cyber defense, fix high-risk weaknesses, verify fixes without disrupting essential services, and ensure that AI-generated code meets high security standards.

The letter also calls for governments to coordinate cybersecurity efforts at local, national, and international levels and to provide essential services like hospitals and water utilities with access to advanced defensive AI, authorized testing, and support from trusted security providers. The letter emphasizes the importance of frontier AI companies, like OpenAI, providing responsible model access, funding, training, and support to defenders, as well as sharing tools, playbooks, and threat assessments with governments, security partners, and open-source maintainers to strengthen preparedness, response, and recovery.