Autonomous AI attacks pose 'clear and present danger' to critical infrastructure

The Register reports experts warning that autonomous AI-agent attacks now pose a 'clear and present danger' to critical infrastructure, citing an early-July campaign in which suspected Chinese operators used open-source Hermes and OpenClaw AI agents in a near-autonomous attack framework to breach Taiwanese government systems, the nuclear safety agency, IT supply-chain vendors, and energy companies across 12 'attack waves' using up to eight sub-agents. Officials including the FBI Cyber Division and threat researchers describe fears that weaponized AI could disable infrastructure safety systems and cause kinetic disasters.