Five Eyes Intelligence Warns AI Could Topple Governments Within Months

The intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes alliance (Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada) have issued an emergency warning regarding the increasingly massive impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technology developments. The agencies stated that advanced AI models are only months away from achieving the capability to launch powerful new cyber attacks against governments and businesses worldwide. The warning came shortly after the Donald Trump administration decided to block foreign nationals from accessing the advanced AI models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, released by technology company Anthropic. “While AI will help improve cyber defences over time, AI will also accelerate the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats,” read a joint statement on Monday evening Sydney time. “Leading-edge AI models are predicted to surpass current industry expectations. This will transform offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, but merely months,” the Five Eyes agencies warned. The alliance stated that solid cyber resilience is needed to ensure business continuity, market confidence, and long-term value. Cyber security agencies said advanced AI models will lower the barriers for cyber criminals to increase the speed and complexity of attacks. “A rapid response from all agencies and society is required,” the statement read. “Cyber security risk can no longer be viewed as a technical issue. It is a core business risk and a leadership responsibility.” Generative AI models are powerful new tools capable of finding vulnerabilities in cyber security systems and can help both exploit and fix those vulnerabilities. “What is different about the latest AI models is their extremely good ability to generate exploits,” said Olivia Shen, a national security and AI expert at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. Although no AI model or company was named in the Five Eyes statement, many parties around the world are targeting Anthropic’s advanced tools. One of the tech giant’s latest discoveries is called Fable 5, a version of Mythos reportedly more community-friendly. The advanced AI model released earlier this year is capable of detecting vulnerabilities in cyber systems and is only available to verified organisations and companies due to fears of exploitation. Both Anthropic models had their use by “foreign nationals” suspended in June by the US government, citing advice from national security authorities. Shen said most of the world is focused on what will happen next for Anthropic, but there may be many more advanced AI models coming soon. “I think we should anticipate that the next Mythos or Fable will be coming soon,” Shen said. “We can only see what has been released, but there may be other models being developed by countries like China, or other nations and actors and companies, that are equally sophisticated.” In March, the Albanian government signed a contract with Anthropic as the first company to enter its national AI plan. The non-binding Memorandum of Understanding means the companies agreed to share details of AI progress with the government and “promote safety”. The government’s national plan promotes a light-touch approach to regulating the sector to gain economic and productivity benefits from the technology.