More than 100 tech and cybersecurity companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft, have warned there is a “narrowing window” to act before AI-enabled attacks escalate to a level that puts critical public services at severe risk.

“In the coming months, AI-enabled cyber-attacks will become far more widespread and sophisticated as models around the world become increasingly capable. The companies and public services our communities depend on – from hospitals to water treatment plants to the infrastructure that powers the internet – are at risk,” the letter said.

The open letter, published on August 27, calls for collective action to ensure AI tools are available to defenders to enable them to discover new ways to secure systems.

The signatories said that current approaches to cybersecurity are not equipped to deal with the coming surge in AI-enabled attacks, with AI tools helping threat actors to rapidly target various vulnerabilities, such as excessive permissions, misconfigurations, insecure and unpatched software, weak authentication and technical debt in legacy systems.

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AI also has the ability to make core security tasks cheaper and more efficient, the letter stated.

It urged a global response to unlock AI’s potential in cybersecurity, encompassing partnerships to raises security standards and sharing of knowledge and tools to tackle emerging threats.

The letter set out actions that should be taken by different stakeholders to make this vision a reality:

• Individual organizations need to make cyber defense an immediate leadership priority, focusing on addressing the highest-risk vulnerabilities and upgrading or replacing legacy systems
• Cybersecurity firms must work with technology partners to strengthen existing solutions with AI, and ensure AI-powered defense is accessible and deployable for critical infrastructure operators
• Governments should strengthen existing threat intelligence and incident response partnerships, and invest in stronger defenses for public services, including providing hospitals, water utilities, and local governments access to capable defensive AI
• Frontier AI companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, must provide responsible model access and offer support for its implementation, especially for critical infrastructure organizations