Australia has joined the U.S, UK, Canada and New Zealand in a rare joint warning about artificial intelligence.
The alliance, known as the “Five Eyes”, says the world’s most powerful AI tools are on the verge of making cyberattacks faster, cheaper and more damaging.
The group warned the threat is “months away, not years”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Five Eyes
The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance between Australia, the U.S, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.
The five countries work together on national security.
On Tuesday, the alliance released a joint three-page statement warning about the cybersecurity risks posed by artificial intelligence.
It was signed by the heads of each country’s top cyber and security agencies, including Australian Cyber Security Centre chief Stephanie Crowe.
Warning
The statement warns that the most advanced AI models now being developed are about to change what a cyberattack looks like.
They can automate hacking, generate malware, and run large-scale phishing scams – faster and more cheaply than a human could.
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Attacks that once required significant technical expertise could soon be carried out by almost anyone.
The agencies warned that cyber breaches are inevitable, stating that “breaches will occur.”
The Five Eyes are now calling for a“whole-of-society response,” including:
- Updating old software.
- Limiting what systems are connected to the internet.
- Tightening password and identity controls.
- Using AI tools to defend against AI-powered attacks.
They say cybersecurity can no longer be treated as a compliance issue, and instead should be core to business strategies.
Bigger picture
Governments are already acting on concerns about advanced AI. Earlier this month, the U.S. ordered Anthropic – the company behind Claude – to restrict foreign access to its two most powerful models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5.
The Government cited national security concerns, and Anthropic shut down access to both models.
The company later said it believed a third party had shared a “jailbreak” technique with the Government that could bypass the models’ safety guardrails and be used to identify software vulnerabilities.
