Regulators in India and Europe are warning that advanced AI models are increasing the scale and capability of cyber attacks [1].

This shift matters because generative AI allows attackers to automate complex hacking processes, forcing financial institutions and small businesses to accelerate their defensive upgrades to avoid catastrophic breaches [2, 3].

New models such as Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI's GPT 5.5-Cyber have demonstrated an increase in their ability to facilitate cyber attacks [1]. These tools enable bad actors to scale operations in ways previously impossible without deep technical expertise [1].

In India, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issued advisories throughout 2024 [2]. The agency said that AI-powered threats are increasingly targeting micro, small, and medium enterprises [2].

Similar concerns are surfacing in Europe. The European Central Bank has pushed banks to speed up their cyber defenses as AI threats escalate [3]. The urgency stems from the fact that traditional security timelines are no longer sufficient to keep pace with machine-learning evolution [3].

"Banks have long been under pressure to improve cyber protections, but rapid developments in AI mean those efforts now need to happen far faster," Frank Elderson said [3].

While some industry observers suggest AI can also supercharge cyber defense by acting as a trust-based firewall [2], regulators remain focused on the offensive risks. The ability of these models to generate sophisticated code and social engineering scripts has created a new landscape of vulnerability for global banking systems [1, 3].

“AI models are becoming more capable of hacking.”

The emergence of specialized models like GPT 5.5-Cyber marks a transition from AI as a productivity tool to AI as a weaponized asset. By lowering the barrier to entry for sophisticated attacks, these models shift the burden of security from human vigilance to algorithmic defense, potentially creating a permanent arms race between offensive and defensive AI systems in the global financial sector.