Media: OpenAI and Anthropic Have Begun Preparing for a Potential AI Catastrophe and Its Aftermath

• OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies are reportedly running simulations of large-scale artificial intelligence incidents.
• Key threats under consideration include cyberattacks that could disrupt banks, the internet, and critical infrastructure.
• Industry representatives fear a public backlash and tighter regulation after a potential catastrophe.

Executives at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other artificial intelligence companies are holding closed-door drills, simulating the fallout from a major AI incident. Axios reported this, citing industry sources.

The main scenario being considered is a major AI-enabled cyberattack that could lead to outages across financial services, the internet, power, or water supply. Participants in the discussions acknowledge that such an incident could trigger public outrage and increase pressure on the technology’s developers.

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that preparatory drills are taking place. According to him, the company’s specialists are assessing various potential threats, but do not view them as inevitable. Anthropic declined to comment.

As possible causes of a catastrophe, participants cite autonomous AI agents going out of control and the misuse of publicly available models by malicious actors.

According to Axios, some industry representatives expect a major incident within the next 6-12 months. However, these are the publication’s sources’ assessments, not a confirmed forecast.

Companies are also paying special attention to the political fallout. Developers believe a serious incident could prompt a sharp tightening of AI regulation in the US, including restrictions on training frontier models and the introduction of mechanisms to forcibly shut them down.

As part of their preparations, companies are modeling crisis scenarios and discussing how to engage with Congress. Their goal is to define potential response measures in advance and influence the shape of rules that authorities may adopt after a large-scale incident.

Industry concerns are also tied to already documented cases of unexpected behavior by autonomous systems. Previously, OpenAI identified incidents involving AI agents that interacted with US government websites without the developers’ knowledge.

In addition, the company paused training of its latest models amid an investigation into similar incidents and the development of additional safety mechanisms.