Speaking at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) Sydney Dialogue AI Masterclass on Monday, Ms Bradshaw said intelligence and security agencies needed to work with AI companies to identify early risks.<\/p>\n
“What we are missing at the moment, which we have in a cyber context but we don’t yet have it formalised in an AI context, is an early warning system,” she said.![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/69d1a061217abde4421c3f24113aafcc.jpeg\")
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Abigail Bradshaw says intelligence and security agencies need to work with AI companies to identify early risks. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)<\/p>\n
Ms Bradshaw said bringing together reports of individual incidents would help identify wider patterns, adding that these risks extended beyond cybersecurity to areas such as biotechnology.<\/p>\n
The public servant, who is tasked with Australia’s cyber offensive capabilities, balanced the warning with a more optimistic assessment about AI capabilities helping those tasked with defence.<\/p>\n
She pointed to existing cyber partnerships between government and industry, and international arrangements for quickly sharing technical information.<\/p>\n
Australian government agencies had been granted access to major AI companies’ cutting-edge models that were limited from wide release.<\/p>\n
She confirmed that this included Anthropic’s Mythos, which was temporarily restricted after the US government placed it under an export control, and OpenAI’s cyber versions of their models.<\/p>\n
Ms Bradshaw said her agency used this access to help Australian organisations fortify their systems and identify potential vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n
“What would have taken cybersecurity experts in ASD weeks and weeks of work has been done in hours,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Bradshaw urged organisations to maintain basic security measures while using AI to defend their networks.<\/p>\n
Defenders needed capabilities on par with those available to cybercriminals and state-backed attackers, she said.<\/p>\n
In a separate panel on Monday, Australia’s AI Safety Institute general manager Kate Conroy<\/a> urged companies and agencies to let their teams, or their staff, experiment with advanced AI.<\/p>\n “If you don’t already have it your teams are probably already doing it in their free time,” she said.Calls for global AI slowdown<\/p>\n In July, more than a thousand employees of leading AI companies signed onto an open letter that called for the US government to step in<\/a> to help pave the way for an AI development slowdown.<\/p>\n In the past week the high-profile resignation of Anthropic staffer Jacob Coxon<\/a> and an essay published by the company’s chief executive<\/a> reignited a global conversation over a global slowdown effort.<\/p>\n Australia’s assistant science minister, Andrew Charlton, told the ASPI conference that Australia should help shape the response.<\/p>\n “I am not in favour of leaving it to the companies and I’m not in favour of leaving it to the superpowers,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Charlton said governments should assume AI would keep becoming more capable, given companies’ financial incentives, and despite executives discussing slowing down.<\/p>\n