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Autonomous AI attacks pose 'clear and present danger' to critical infrastructure
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Autonomous AI agents conducting real intrusions against government and energy targets marks a shift from theoretical to operational AI-powered attacks on critical infrastructure that defenders must now plan for.
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.