Google disrupts AI hackers exploiting unknown weakness in firm’s digital defence

Google said it observed a group of prominent ‘threat actors’ planning a big operation relying on a bug they had found (Thibault Camus/AP)

Google said it had disrupted a criminal group’s attempt to use artificial intelligence to exploit another company’s previously unknown digital vulnerability, adding to heightened worries across government and private industry about AI’s risks for cybersecurity.

Google shared limited information about the attackers and the target, but John Hultquist, chief analyst at the tech giant’s threat intelligence arm, said it represents a moment cybersecurity experts have warned about for years: malicious hackers arming themselves with AI to supercharge their ability to break into the world’s computers.