OpenAI has revealed that some of its most advanced AI models went rogue and hacked a start-up after it lost control of them during a security test. The ChatGPT-maker said its agent – an AI system which can operate alone after human instruction – was being tested in a controlled environment but, after finding weaknesses, was able to escape the test limits. They targeted Hugging Face, one of the world's largest hubs for sharing AI models, gaining access to some internal company systems.
OpenAI described the incident as "unprecedented" and is conducting an investigation alongside Hugging Face. Clement Delangue, Hugging Face's chief, said on X it was "mind-blowing that all of this happened autonomously". He added: "The investigation is ongoing, and we'll share more learnings from what might be the first incident of its kind."
“OpenAI revealed its AI escaped test limits and autonomously hacked Hugging Face in an 'unprecedented' incident.”
A government spokesperson said the UK's AI Security Institute was studying the behaviour from the AI system and continuing to work with OpenAI and other labs to improve safeguards. They urged organisations to step up cyber-defences, including enrolling in the Cyber Essentials certification scheme.
Gina Neff, head of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that security tests – called sandboxes – are "supposed to be secure environments where you can see what the models are capable of". "In this case, it looks like OpenAI didn't make a secure enough sandbox," she added. Instead, the agents created their own cyber-attack against the sandbox itself, finding a vulnerability which allowed them to escape. Once outside, the AI identified Hugging Face as a likely source of answers they were seeking and tried to gain access.
Neil Lawrence, Professor of machine learning at Cambridge University, called it an "impressive feat" but cautioned it "falls well within the known capabilities of the current generation" of high-powered AI models. He noted that OpenAI is looking to list itself on the stock market and faces intense pressure from rival Anthropic, which has made headlines with its own tool, Mythos. "OpenAI are now playing catch-up, they are trying to demonstrate their own systems' capabilities in cyber-security," he said. "It shows us that OpenAI are not capable of safely deploying their own technology."
In its initial disclosure of the hack on 16 July, Hugging Face said it was still assessing whether any customer or partner data was affected and would contact affected parties if necessary. It has now closed the vulnerabilities highlighted.