What to know about AI hacking blamed on rogue OpenAI models

ChatGPT maker OpenAI says it is still investigating the “unprecedented cyber incident” that led its artificial intelligence systems to break out of a testing environment and hack into another AI company.

OpenAI said Tuesday two of its most capable AI models were responsible for the cyberattack targeting AI startup Hugging Face.

The incident is stirring debates over the need for stronger AI guardrails and the extent to which AI agents are capable of acting on their own.

Hugging Face said last week that it had detected an intrusion into its data processing systems that it suspected was caused by an AI agent acting on its own.

But the New York-based startup said it wasn't until this week that it learned OpenAI was responsible, and it worked with the larger company to contain what Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue called “an attack unlike anything we’ve seen before.” San Francisco-based OpenAI said its AI used stolen credentials and discovered a previously unknown vulnerability to access Hugging Face's servers.

It was working with reduced guardrails because it was supposed to be ...