OpenAI's Unprecedented Hack

The warnings around AI security can feel like Y2K, which turned out to be a yawner. This week’s hacking story is a wake-up call.

In an incident OpenAI called “unprecedented,” a new version of its Sol model escaped from its testing environment and hacked into Hugging Face. The model figured out that Hugging Face had answers to its test…so it was both hacking and cheating at the same time. 🤔

The hack was so severe that Hugging Face reported it to law enforcement before it knew the attacker was an OpenAI model. When Hugging Face tried using US AI models for defense, safety guardrails blocked them, so it turned to an open-source Chinese model for cleanup.

Why didn’t OpenAI have a more secure testing environment? Should we stop hobbling US models so companies can use them for defense? Is it time to build an independent AI oversight organization?

Those are interesting, but mostly irrelevant for today’s business leaders who need to get their security house in order.

• CEOs: you’re used to your security teams crying wolf. Give them what they ask for, and make sure they have a solid plan.

• IT leaders: act with urgency to close gaps in your own system and make sure your vendors are doing the same.

• Small business owners: start with NIST’s cybersecurity guide.

Y2K was a yawner, but it was a yawner because companies saw it coming and acted.