OpenAI is calling for a global surge in cyber defense, warning that increasingly capable artificial intelligence could soon make cyberattacks more widespread and sophisticated.

More than 100 companies and organizations, including Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, CrowdStrike, Cisco, Cloudflare and Palo Alto Networks, signed an open letter published by OpenAI calling for governments, technology companies and cybersecurity firms to work together to strengthen defenses.

The letter argues that organizations have a limited window to improve cybersecurity before AI-enabled attacks become more advanced. Critical infrastructure, including hospitals, water treatment facilities and the systems that underpin the internet, could be particularly vulnerable.

"Longstanding bugs, excessive permissions, misconfigurations, insecure and unpatched software, weak authentication, and technical debt in legacy systems have left systems exposed," the letter stated.

The group is also urging organizations to use AI as a defensive tool, arguing that the technology can make cybersecurity work faster, cheaper and more accessible. That could include using AI to identify and fix vulnerabilities, continuously test defenses and help security teams respond to incidents. 

The letter also calls for organizations to share verified fixes, threat intelligence and security playbooks so that improvements made by one company can benefit others.

The push comes as AI companies have increasingly focused on the technology’s potential to transform both offensive and defensive cybersecurity. More capable models can help defenders automate routine security tasks, but the same capabilities could potentially give attackers new tools to discover vulnerabilities and launch attacks at greater scale.

OpenAI and the other signatories are calling for action across four groups: individual organizations, cybersecurity companies and technology providers, governments, and frontier AI companies.

Companies are being urged to make cybersecurity a leadership priority, address their highest-risk vulnerabilities and strengthen access controls and other basic defenses. They are also encouraged to scrutinize AI-generated code and replace or upgrade outdated systems where necessary.

Cybersecurity companies, meanwhile, should continuously test defenses against advanced AI capabilities and make AI-powered security tools more accessible to operators of critical infrastructure, according to the letter.

Governments have a role in coordinating threat intelligence and incident response while providing funding and defensive AI capabilities to organizations that lack the staff or resources to protect themselves. The letter specifically points to hospitals, water utilities and local governments as areas where additional support is needed.

Frontier AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are being asked to provide responsible access to their models, funding, training and hands-on support for under-resourced defenders. The letter also calls on them to invest in authorized security testing and share threat assessments and defensive tools with governments, security firms and open-source developers.

The broad coalition reflects a growing recognition within the technology industry that AI-driven cybersecurity risks cannot be addressed by any single company.

The signatories argue that the same advances making cyberattacks more capable can instead be harnessed to strengthen defenses—if organizations move quickly enough.

"Together, we can turn today’s AI advances into lasting improvements in security that benefit everyone," the letter said.

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