OpenAI pauses some work on new Astra model on cyber concerns

CALIFORNIA – OpenAI is pausing some internal work around one of its upcoming artificial intelligence models to implement stricter safeguards after the system was found to be significantly more adept at cybersecurity tasks. The ChatGPT maker said on Aug 7 it “cannot rule out” that the unreleased Astra model would reach OpenAI’s “critical cybersecurity threshold”, meaning it’s capable of identifying and developing zero-day exploits without human intervention. OpenAI said it’s now taking steps to improve security controls for developing and testing newer models and “pausing internal activities involving Astra that do not yet meet these strengthened security control requirements”.Chief executive Sam Altman said the company is working to make the model “generally available”.“Given its cyber cap