By Zoe Kleinman – Technology and AI editor
Publication Date: 2026-08-27 17:01:00
A group of 100 firms, including Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, have signed an open letter calling on countries and organisations around the world to beef up their cyber defences before AI grows powerful enough to override them.
The letter warns cyber-attacks which use AI will become both more widespread and more sophisticated in a matter of months as the technology rapidly improves.
The group says current “status quo” security measures “won’t be enough” and criticises the “historic under-resourcing” of security around critical infrastructure.
“We have a limited window to improve cyber defences,” the letter begins.
Other firms to have signed the letter include banks such as Capital One, payment processors MasterCard and Visa, and other major tech firms including Adobe, Oracle and IBM.
They call on governments to provide “capable, defensive AI” and testing to hospitals and water utilities.
But it is also true that many of the most powerful AI have been developed by some of these…