Anthropic’s deputy cybersecurity chief warned Thursday that a surge in newly discovered software vulnerabilities could overwhelm defenses in the coming months, putting critical infrastructure at risk as artificial intelligence makes it easier to identify security weaknesses.
Jason Clinton, deputy chief information security officer at the US artificial intelligence company, warned of a coming “vulnerability tsunami” that could leave operators of essential systems, including power and water facilities, without enough time to fix security flaws.
He urged organizations to isolate sensitive computer networks from outside access to make them harder for hackers to penetrate.
“As bad as things have gotten in the past 4 days, they are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” Clinton wrote on US social media company X.
“Security leaders, never let a crisis go to waste: please go to your boards and ask for help right now. Not for AI, for the basics,” he added, warning that organizations would need to withstand heightened cybersecurity risks for approximately 18 months.
His comments come amid growing concerns that AI tools could uncover software weaknesses faster than companies and governments can repair them, giving hackers more opportunities to exploit vulnerable systems.
On Wednesday, developers of PHP, a widely used programming language that powers websites and online services, released emergency security updates addressing two critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to run malicious code on affected servers without needing login credentials.
The vulnerabilities were each assigned a severity score of 9.2 out of 10, and developers urged organizations to install the updates immediately.
Clinton did not identify which recent incidents prompted his warning or suggest that they were connected.
Anthropic has previously reported using its AI models to discover thousands of vulnerabilities in publicly available software, highlighting how the technology is accelerating the discovery of security weaknesses.