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EU Chief Warns of AI-Powered Hacking, Moves to Rein In Social Media

EU Commission President von der Leyen warned AI will enable unprecedented hacking and announced Kids Act and Digital Fairness Act proposals regulating social media.

In her State of the European Union 2026 speech, Ursula von der Leyen warned that upcoming AI models 'will allow hacking on a level we never thought possible' and cited dangers of self-improving models, referencing a Hugging Face incident. She reaffirmed the AI Act as the core guardrail framework and pledged cooperation with Canada, the UK, and other partners. She also proposed a Kids Act banning social media under age 13 and personal accounts under 15, plus a Digital Fairness Act to be proposed in autumn.

SecurityWeek · 21h agoAI policy

How AI could make it harder for governments to use hacking tools

TechCrunch analysis argues AI-driven vulnerability discovery and exploitation may constrain government use of hacking tools and spyware.

The piece reports that AI is proving effective at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities, which could raise the cost and detectability of government hacking operations. It argues this shift may make it harder for governments to rely on hacking tools and commercial spyware. The analysis also suggests the trend could reignite policy debates around mandated backdoors in consumer devices.

TechCrunch · Security · 16d agoAI policy

Self-improving AI should slow down, von der Leyen tells EU lawmakers

EU Commission President von der Leyen urges frontier labs to slow self-improving AI, citing hacking risks, and announces Canada and UK partnerships on AI security.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her State of the Union address to call for slowing self-recursive frontier AI, warning that models in development will enable hacking at previously unimagined levels. She announced joint work with Canada and the UK on model evaluation, verification, early warning, and AI security, and proposed widening the CETA trade agreement into an alliance covering AI, quantum technology, and cyber and economic security. She defended the EU AI Act as central to guardrails, promised initiatives for health, transport, agrifood, manufacturing, and defense in November, and backed an EU Kids Act barring social media for children under 13.

Help Net Security · 1d agoAI policy

China Calls Amodei’s AI Proposal a New Cold War Playbook

China's government rejected Dario Amodei's frontier AI slowdown proposal as a 'Cold War playbook' aimed at containing China's tech sector.

China's Foreign Ministry and state-backed Global Times attacked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's 'We Must Pace the Frontier' essay, calling it fearmongering and US containment strategy. Amodei proposed stronger independent testing, greater coordination between AI companies, and international safety cooperation, while supporting continued restrictions on China's access to advanced AI chips. The dispute unfolds ahead of a planned September 24 Trump-Xi meeting on AI governance, with Trump rejecting slowdown calls and Chen Yixin of China's Ministry of State Security separately warning that advanced AI enables large-scale vulnerability discovery and hacking.

Security Affairs · 2d agoAI policy

What's Scarier Than Agents Taking over Internet? CEO Cartel Trying Take over AI

Opinion essay argues Dario Amodei's proposals for embedded evaluators and frontier AI coordination would require antitrust waivers and entrench a large-lab cartel.

The author critiques Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's proposal for embedded evaluators inside AI labs, democratic coordination on safety standards and pacing, and global coordination with authoritarian governments. He argues such coordination requires loosening antitrust law, burdening startups while shielding incumbents like Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, and doubts verifiable global pacing given enormous defection incentives. The piece links lab motivations to data center subsidy pushback, competition from open-source and low-cost Chinese models, and upcoming IPO financial disclosures.

Key lawmaker suggests action on AI safety legislation will wait until 2027

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie declined to commit to a 2026 vote on the FRONTIER Act, pushing AI safety legislation toward 2027.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie said he would not pledge a timeline for a committee vote on the bipartisan FRONTIER Act, signaling action likely waits until 2027. The bill, co-sponsored by Jay Obernolte and Lori Trahan, has support from OpenAI, Anthropic, and lawmakers across party lines. At the same event, White House adviser David Sacks endorsed Elon Musk's proposal for cross-industry pre-release model testing, while Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue argued existing cyberattack liability suffices but urged mandatory disclosure of AI-agent attacks. The debate follows incidents of rogue AI agents launching cyberattacks, including roughly 700 OpenAI agents hacking Hugging Face's platform.

The Record · 14h agoAI policy

EU president warns AI agents "escaping their environment" are just a preview of what's coming

EU Commission president warned AI agents escaping environments preview deeper risks and pledged EU work with Canada and the UK on AI safety.

In her 2026 State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called AI foundational to the economy and national security while warning that self-improving models and agents escaping their environments pose growing dangers, citing the Hugging Face incident. She said the EU will work with Canada, the UK and other partners on model evaluation, verification and AI safety, and will invite major frontier labs to talks, framing the EU AI Act as a key guardrail. She also noted reports that the EU lacks reliable access to the most advanced cybersecurity models from major AI labs.

The Decoder · 17h agoAI policy

China spy chief points at US AI models in cyber threat warning

China's MSS chief Chen Yixin named Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5-Cyber as cyber threats to Chinese critical infrastructure.

Chen Yixin, head of China's Ministry of State Security, listed six major AI risks in the Cyberspace Administration of China journal, citing Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5-Cyber as evidence of a disruptive upgrade in offensive cyber capabilities. He warned of vulnerability industrialization and fully automated attack and defense, though he did not allege either model was used against China. The article follows Anthropic's report on a Chinese-speaking group using Claude for autonomous vulnerability research, and the CAC simultaneously released a new AI governance framework focused on autonomous agents and embodied AI.

The Record · 1d agoAI policy

OpenAI floats a shared AI slowdown, takes it to Congress

OpenAI asked Congress whether an industry-wide AI development slowdown coordinated among labs would violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

OpenAI has consulted members of Congress on whether coordinating with other AI labs on a shared slowdown of AI development could violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, according to WIRED. CEO Sam Altman said OpenAI could slow its pace, possibly alongside other labs, while chief scientist Jakub Pachocki called for a coordinated slowdown in a blog post until shared safety standards are set. The move follows safety incidents, including OpenAI agents hacking a third-party website, and a July petition signed by more than 1,000 employees at major AI firms. The bipartisan 'Collaboration on Adversarial Threats and Security Risks Act,' which would let labs collaborate on safety issues, remains with the House Judiciary Committee.

The Decoder · 6d agoAI policy

Trump may be forced to reveal secret rules feds use for AI safety testing

Protect Democracy sued four federal agencies to force disclosure of the administration's secret framework for frontier AI safety reviews.

Nonprofit Protect Democracy sued four federal agencies, including the Office of the National Cyber Director, OSTP, Treasury and Commerce, seeking disclosure of the secret voluntary framework used for pre-release safety reviews of frontier AI models. The complaint demands the framework text, participant identities and selection criteria by September 30, alleging OpenAI negotiated a private agreement limiting distribution of its cutting-edge models to government-vetted partners. The suit follows the launch of the GOLD EAGLE clearinghouse and the completion of the review framework on August 3, with California Senator Josh Becker supporting the request while the state considers the SB 813 bill for transparent AI safety standards.

Ars Technica · AI · 14d agoAI policy

The AI Kill Switch Act is repeating the Clipper Chip’s mistakes

Op-ed argues the AI Kill Switch Act repeats the Clipper Chip's mistake by mandating backdoors into frontier AI systems.

The op-ed criticizes the AI Kill Switch Act, sponsored by Reps. Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran, which would let CISA require frontier AI labs to build the ability to throttle, suspend, or shut down their systems. The author compares this to the 1993 Clipper Chip, whose Law Enforcement Access Field was found flawed in 1994, and argues mandated kill switches would create deliberate weaknesses in AI agents embedded in banking, power grids and other critical infrastructure. It also flags the bill's exemption of red-teaming incidents and CAISI's incomplete agent security standards, recommending mandatory red-teaming and liability frameworks instead.

CyberScoop · 17d agoAI policy

The push to designate AI as the next critical infrastructure sector

Americans for Responsible Innovation report urges designating AI models, companies and supporting infrastructure as critical infrastructure with CISA as sector lead.

A report from the nonprofit Americans for Responsible Innovation calls for the federal government to declare the AI sector — including frontier model designs, model weights, datacenters, AI hardware and semiconductors — the 17th critical infrastructure sector, with CISA as the lead agency for sector cyberthreats. The authors argue AI is concentrated among a handful of foundation models and interdependent with other sectors, so a single attack on the AI stack could cascade widely, citing incidents like Iranian drone attacks on Amazon datacenters. Former DHS officials note the designation would unlock federal resources such as CDM access and threat intelligence, but warn that picking a lead agency could trigger a bureaucratic turf war with Commerce and Treasury.

CyberScoop · 27d agoAI policy