The head of the National Cyber Security Centre has denied that a

Richard Browne was questioned about the issue at a hearing of the Oireachtas AI Committee.

Last week, Anthropic announced that its latest model Mythos is capable of identifying and exploiting weaknesses across operating systems and web browsers.

In the wrong hands, it could be used as a cyber weapon but the tool is currently only available to a restricted number of tech companies.

At the committee hearing, Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney raised concerns about the model.

"The existence of that product, and the use of it by hackers, is a risk to this State."
Mr Browne responded by saying that Anthropic is not the risk.

"The issue is not that Anthropic has created this, the issue is that Anthropic has demonstrated that this is possible.

"It has allowed access to a small number of very important companies to test their own systems using Mythos to remove vulnerabilities," he added.

In his opening address to the committee, Mr Browne said the implications of AI for cybersecurity are "both vast and inherently unpredictable".

Committee members were told that threat actors are heavy users of AI tools and that advances in the technology are allowing for "greater automation of attack processes".

"It means that we're in a race, whether we chose to accept it or not," Mr Browne said.

Jason Kearney, Director of Emergency Operations and Infrastructure Oversight in the Department of Defence, told the committee that the rise of and acceleration of generative AI "has created significant new opportunities while also introducing challenges that are broader and more complex than anything we have previously encountered".

Brigadier General Mark Staunton, Commander of the Defence Forces Joint Cyber Defence Command, told the committee that his unit remains proactive in considering the appropriateness of incorporating Artificial Intelligence into military capabilities.

Chair of the Oireachtas AI Committee, Malcolm Byrne, said the impact of AI on defence, security and cybersecurity is one of the most critical areas for the committee.

"We know about the risks of cyberattacks emanating from other states, notably Russia, China, and Iran, and by non-state actors already on Ireland," Mr Byrne said.

"If these are AI enabled, there are even greater challenges, particularly given the pace at which the technology is developing," he added.

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