US is looking to weave AI into critical infrastructure for cybersecurity, national cyber director says

Sean Cairncross said CEOs need to be cognizant of how it’s being used, however.

The U.S. government is working with critical infrastructure operators to integrate artificial intelligence into the nation’s most vital systems and strengthen cyber defenses, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said Tuesday.

“We have been working closely, and I believe it is functioning well to get models deployed throughout sectors as quickly as possible, and they can be used to secure systems,” he said at a USTelecom event. But he said business leaders need to pay close attention to how AI is being used.

“What CEOs should be thinking about is the agents that run on these systems and in your supply chain — having insight and visibility into who has authorization, what they are authorized to access, and where they are running in your system…  it is an important thing to be on the radar,” he said.

Cairncross made his comments before attending a lunch at the White House featuring top AI tech leaders along with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. The expected discussion topics included weighing the necessity of regulatory guardrails that AI executives have been discussing versus voluntary measures that Trump and Johnson have favored.

Some lawmakers have proposed stricter rules.

“What we’re looking for are pathways where our systems and the services they provide, the daily life that is supported by these systems, can be protected, can be upscaled, can use the the best in class technology as quickly as possible,” Cairncross said about the administration’s approach to regulation and innovation.

“The Mythos moment” in the spring, when that AI model debuted, “crystallized” the administration’s work since, he said: “I think there’s been an enormous amount of work that’s gone in across the interagency, working with industry to get those pathways in place.”

Another key component in AI and cybersecurity is less “sexy,” Cairncross said, which is creating incentives to replace aging, unsupported systems.

Cairncross made his remarks in response to questions from Jonathan Spalter, CEO of USTelecom.

“We know that just in the last six months, the effectiveness of AI models being embedded in much of our critical infrastructure has increased to a stunning degree,” Spalter said.

Governments ‘buying time’ in race between innovation, security, national cyber director says

Sean Cairncross also said AI has shown long-standing issues in cyber rather than creating new ones.

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Government

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Technology

• CISA outlines improvement plan for CVE program

• OpenAI, Ukraine partner on ‘Daybreak’ program to protect power grids and water systems 

• Citing China, President Trump doubles down on hands-off approach to AI regulation

• Researchers use AI to find widespread software decoder flaw 

Threats

• Army soldier sentenced for spree of attacks on AT&T, Snowflake and other major companies

• Watchdog finds most agencies failed to meet CISA cloud security orders, heightening risk of attack

• Ryuk ransomware operator sentenced to 2 years in prison

• ShinyHunters claims attack on FBI exposes almost all agents

Policy

• The president has called for AI leadership. Here’s the mission.

• After water attacks, Capitol Hill offers its own proposal for an AI-cyber test program

• Dems seek top-to-bottom assessment of CISA workforce

• The AI hacking apocalypse is not inevitable