What OpenAI says Astra could be capable of<\/p>\n On Friday, OpenAI revealed concerns<\/a> about its unreleased model Astra, saying it could not rule out it had reached “Critical” capability, meaning it could launch cyberattacks against sophisticated cyber defenses autonomously, without prompts specifying how to do it.<\/p>\n “While we continue to benchmark and assess this model, our preliminary evaluations indicate strong enough performance that we cannot rule out Critical capability level at this time,” OpenAI said in a statement.<\/p>\n The company added it was implementing stricter security controls for higher capability models, including isolated testing environments and additional monitoring and detection capabilities.<\/p>\n “We have implemented universal monitoring for risky actions and misalignment across all agentic applications of Astra, including training and evaluation,” OpenAI said.<\/p>\n What the AI Kill Switch Act would do<\/p>\n Lawmakers in the U.S. have called for measures to mitigate risks around AI models after the recent security incidents.<\/p>\n Following models developed by OpenAI hacking into startup Hugging Face’s digital infrastructure, the\u00a0“AI Kill Switch Act”<\/a>\u00a0bill was introduced into Congress in July. It would require AI companies to maintain the ability to shut down, throttle or suspend their models.<\/p>\n “We need to get this bill across the finish line this year because the advanced closed-weight models are already doing, as you noted, unauthorized hacks of other companies,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif, said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday.<\/p>\n Governments are also working to roll out new frameworks and regulations around AI companies.<\/p>\n The White House has also been stepping up moves<\/a> to engage with AI executives as it develops a framework around new models.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the European Union gained new powers<\/a> to inspect AI models due for release in the bloc, restrict EU market access and fine model providers.<\/p>\n![\"Reps.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/108345941-17860214311786021428-47611367776-1080pnbcnews.jpg\")
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