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Google The Threat Intelligence Group said in a report Monday that it used artificial intelligence models to thwart hackers’ efforts to “plan a large-scale vulnerability exploitation operation.”
The group, known by the acronym GTIG, said it was “highly confident” that it had documented hackers using AI models to find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, or flaws in software unknown to developers, and create a way to bypass two-factor authentication.
“The criminals may have been planning to use this in a large-scale exploitation event, but our aggressive counter-detection efforts may have prevented their use,” Google wrote in its post, without naming the hacker group. Google said it does not believe its Gemini model was used.
The findings highlight how hackers are leveraging available AI tools, such as OpenClaw, to exploit software flaws in ways that can be particularly damaging to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations, even as cybersecurity companies spend billions of dollars to strengthen their defenses.
Anthropic delayed the rollout of its Mythos model in April, citing concerns that criminals and adversaries could use the tool to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in decades-old software. The concerns shocked the industry and prompted a White House meeting with technology and business leaders. Anthropic has since released this model to a select group of testers, including: apple, cloud strike, microsoft and palo alto networks.
Last week, OpenAI announced that a variation of its latest model, GPT-5.5-Cyber, would be rolled out in limited preview functionality to vetted cybersecurity teams.
In Monday’s report, Google cited several examples of how hackers are already using tools like OpenClaw to discover vulnerabilities, launch cyberattacks, and develop malware. Groups associated with China and North Korea “expressed significant interest in leveraging AI for vulnerability discovery,” the report said.
Spotlight: The era of AI-powered cyber attack orchestration has arrived
