Recent hacking incidents perpetrated by AI agents are “early warning shots”, and the world could soon face major incidents if systems are not made more secure, Google DeepMind co-founder and Chair Demis Hassabis said on Wednesday (October 14, 2026).
Rogue behaviour by AI agents, including corporate network hacks and, most recently, Anthropic’s disclosure that an AI model submitted a false homicide tip to police, has prompted warnings from researchers and fueled concerns over the fast-advancing technology.
But they could be (major) looking into next year and the next couple years if we don’t do more work as an industry, as individual companies and governments on securing these systems.
“I think these (hacking incidents) are early warning shots for us that systems aren’t that powerful yet, so the incidents aren’t that major,” Mr. Hassabis, who is also chief scientist at Google parent Alphabet, told an AI summit in Dublin. Microsoft President Brad Smith told the conference that rogue AI behaviour had made 2026 a “sobering year” and that new AI safety laws and rules were urgently needed for safety to catch up with innovation.
