Five Eyes – Signals agencies from Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada warn that frontier AI models capable of speeding up cyber attacks on governments and business are “months” away, urging leaders to act now. The rare joint statement comes after the Trump a
Late Monday night in Sydney, a warning landed in one of the world’s most guarded corners of government. In a rare joint statement. signals agencies for the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — Australia. the US. the UK. New Zealand and Canada — told leaders they had little time left to prepare for what powerful AI models can do.
The message was blunt: AI “would help us improve cyber defence over time”. but it also “accelerates the speed. scale. and sophistication of cyber threats”. Then came the part that made the clock feel closer than “years” ever do. Frontier AI models. the agencies wrote. are “anticipated to exceed current industry expectations”. and “The timeline is not years. it is months.”.
The agencies linked that urgency to the daily reality of running modern systems. “In this environment. cyber resilience is integral to advancing business continuity. market confidence. and long-term value.” They also pushed the idea beyond IT teams. “Cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility.”.
They said the leaps in AI models could lower barriers for “bad actors” and increase both the speed and complexity of attacks. “Generative AI models are powerful new tools capable of looking for vulnerabilities in cyber security systems,” the statement explained. “They can help exploit those vulnerabilities as well as repair them.” What changed with the newest wave was speed and capability — tools that can do both offensive work and the kind of repair that helps them keep going.
“Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations. fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.” That line matters because it leaves no room for comfort in either direction. The same abilities that can strengthen defences can also be repurposed to find and weaponise weaknesses faster.
This is the part where the statement’s warnings collide with what has already happened in the US. The rare public intervention came after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable.
The Five Eyes statement did not name any models or companies. Still, many outside intelligence circles have been watching Anthropic closely. One of its latest inventions is called Fable 5, described as a more community-friendly version of Mythos — a powerful AI model released earlier this year.
Mythos, the reporting says, is only available to vetted organisations and companies because of concerns it could be exploited. Both of Anthropic’s models were suspended for use by “foreign nationals” in June by the US government, which cited advice by national security authorities.
Olivia Shen. an expert in national security and AI at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. put a sharper edge on what people may underestimate. “What’s different about the latest [AI models] ones is they’re very good at generating exploits.” She added that much of the world is focused on what happens next for Anthropic — but the immediate question might be bigger than one company.
“I think we have to anticipate that the next Mythos or the next Fable is just around the corner,” Shen said. “We can only see what’s been released but there could be other models being developed by the likes of China, or other states and other actors and companies, that are just as advanced.”
That wider view helps explain why the Five Eyes agencies closed the statement with a demand for collective readiness. “A whole-of-organisation and whole-of-society response is required.” The alliance was set up between the five countries after the second world war. but this warning was issued with a present-tense urgency: AI capability is moving faster than the political instincts that often lag behind it.
Back in Australia, the same tension is showing up in the government’s approach. In March, the Albanese government signed Anthropic as the first company on to its national AI plane. Under a non-binding memorandum of understanding, companies agree to share details of AI progress with the government and “promote safety.”.
Australia’s national plan, the details say, promotes a light-touch approach on regulating the sector. The goal is to capture economic and productivity benefits from the technology.
Those two tracks — encouragement to adopt and a warning that offensive capability is compressing into months — sit uncomfortably close together. The Five Eyes message doesn’t argue against AI’s defensive uses. It simply insists that leaders treat cyber resilience as a leadership decision. not an afterthought. and that “act now” means more than waiting for the next model announcement.
Five Eyes Australia United States UK New Zealand Canada AI models cyber attacks cyber resilience Anthropic Fable Fable 5 Mythos Olivia Shen University of Sydney national AI plane Albanese government