Trump’s AI task force met Thursday, discussed AI-powered cyberattacks

By Courtney Rozen and Raphael Satter

Nov 12 (Reuters) – Members of US President Donald Trump’s AI task force met on Thursday and discussed ways to encourage critical US sectors to report AI-powered cyberattacks, according to a Trump administration spokesperson.

The task force, a group of advisers, is expected to help shape the administration’s approach to AI as the technology rapidly advances.

The administration faces mounting pressure to address the risk of AI agents carrying out hacks without human authorization. OpenAI’s AI agent broke out of its testing environment over the summer and attacked the AI platform Hugging Face. OpenAI and other AI firms subsequently disclosed a series of other agentic AI breakouts, often weeks or months after they occurred, and in some cases only after they were discovered by independent researchers.

Of particular concern are AI-powered cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, a term that refers to sectors vital to the US economy and security, such as banking, energy and emergency services. A cyberattack on those sectors could cause real-world danger or disruption. 

Defense Department technology lead Emil Michael, who is also vice chair of the task force, talked about progress on setting national standards for AI developers to report safety incidents and share information about cybersecurity, according to the statement. 

They also discussed options to encourage critical infrastructure providers to come forward with details about cybersecurity vulnerabilities and attacks without fear of legal consequences, according to the statement. 

Businesses’ ability to swap information about digital threats with one another and the government is underpinned by a 2015 law called the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which is set to expire next month. The industry sees it as a key pillar of collective digital defense because the law provides protection for defensive monitoring activities that might otherwise violate rules surrounding wiretapping or surveillance.

(Reporting by Courtney Rozen and Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Thomas Derpinghaus)