OpenAI's Astra becomes first AI model with 'critical' cyber abilities

OpenAI announced Tuesday that its forthcoming AI model, Astra, is its first to reach the company's threshold for what it calls 'critical' cyber capabilities. OpenAI says it plans to publicly release a version of Astra 'soon,' but will make the model's advanced cyber capabilities available only to select partners in its Daybreak Blue early-access program at launch. OpenAI says an AI model has reached its critical cyber threshold when it can independently find and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in real-world software. The company says it has followed its procedure for this situation, which is to halt further development until appropriate safeguards and security measures can be implemented. OpenAI previously paused some training workloads related to Astra development. Executives say the company has now resumed work after putting additional safety and security controls in place. Partners in OpenAI's Daybreak program — including Cisco, Cloudflare, and Palo Alto Networks — will get early access to a less restricted version of Astra. Astra is not only capable of finding novel software vulnerabilities but is also able to 'chain' multiple exploits together. According to figures from OpenAI, Astra outperforms industry-leading AI models on cybersecurity benchmarks such as ExploitBench, which Astra scored 100 percent on.