OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Advanced Micro Devices, Google, and more than 100 other companies and entities signed an open letter on Thursday, August 27, warning that organizations have only months to prepare for AI-enabled cyberattacks and calling for "collective action" to bolster defenses1,12,3.
"We have a limited window to strengthen cyber defenses," the letter opens.
The 116 signatories span cloud providers, cybersecurity firms, AI companies, telecoms, financial services companies, banks, insurers, and think tanks. Hugging Face also signed.
The letter warns that AI is making sophisticated cyber capabilities cheaper and more accessible to attackers, and that hospitals, water treatment plants, and other critical infrastructure will face what the group describes as "a swarm of hacking threats". It states that AI-enabled cyberattacks will become "far more widespread within months" and that defenders have a narrow period left to prepare.
The open letter lays out a multi-tier plan. Every organization should raise its internal security standards, fix its "highest-risk weaknesses," and "raise the security bar for what you buy, build, and deploy, including AI-generated code". Cybersecurity and technology companies must quickly test and build tools that make "AI-powered defense accessible and deployable for critical infrastructure operators" and share threat intelligence with one another. Frontier AI companies should give defenders access to their most capable response models during major cyber incidents, along with "significant funding, training, and hands-on support," especially for critical infrastructure providers.
Governments, the letter argues, need to strengthen channels for sharing actionable threat intelligence, coordinate defense at local, national, and international levels, and fund cyber defense to improve accessibility for under-resourced critical infrastructure like hospitals.
The letter comes amid a wave of cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, including one targeting U.S. water systems with what was described as an AI-generated exploitation script. AI models capable of orchestrating agentic attacks in minutes have upended the cyber industry in recent months, according to CNBC's reporting.
The signatories did not make any commitments, deadlines, or specific investments as part of the letter.
ANALYSIS The absence of binding commitments or concrete investment pledges limits the letter to a signaling exercise, though the breadth of signatories, covering rival AI labs, major cloud providers, and cybersecurity incumbents, is notable for a single coordinated statement.
Cybersecurity stocks reflected the broader momentum around AI-driven security demand on Thursday: Okta and CrowdStrike each jumped double digits after posting strong earnings tied to AI security momentum. CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks have more than doubled in value over the last year.
OpenAI Group PBC published the letter. SecurityWeek reported that nearly 130 tech and cybersecurity companies backed the call6, a figure slightly above the 116 cited by CNBC.