Google Says Criminal Hackers Used A.I. to Find a Major Software Flaw

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.The company said that it had identified, for the first time, hackers using artificial intelligence to discover an unknown bug. The attempted attack represents “a taste of what’s to come,” one expert said.Listen · 6:11 min“We have high confidence that the actor likely leveraged an A.I. model to support the discovery and weaponization of this vulnerability,” Google said in its report, published Monday.Credit...Noah Berger/Associated PressMay 11, 2026, 9:00 a.m. ETA criminal hacking group recently attempted to launch a widespread cyberattack that appeared to rely on artificial intelligence to detect a previously unknown bug, Google said in research published Monday, highlighting the potential threat that A.I. poses to digital security.Security experts have feared for years that malicious hackers could eventually rely on A.I. models to identify undisclosed flaws in computer code to launch crippling attacks that are difficult to guard against. That fear was largely theoretical until now.“We have high confidence that the actor likely leveraged an A.I. model to support the discovery and weaponization of this vulnerability,” the report said.The tech giant did not say precisely when the thwarted attack happened, whom it was targeting or which A.I. platform the hackers used, but the company added that it did not believe it was its own Gemini chatbot.Google’s research arrives as the technology industry and governments, including the Trump administration, re-evaluate how, and whether, to police advanced versions of A.I., in large part because of growing concerns over what they mean for cybersecurity.Flaws like the one identified by Google and the hacking group are known as “zero-day vulnerabilities” — security holes that are unknown to the software makers. They were once considered so rare and powerful that they could fetch millions of dollars on black markets used to sell hacking tools.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT