OpenAI, Microsoft expand cybersecurity partnership amid rising AI threats

OpenAI and Microsoft on Thursday announced an expanded cybersecurity partnership to deploy advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools against cyber threats.

In a post on social media platform X on Thursday, the company said OpenAI will provide Microsoft access to its most advanced cyber-capable AI models through its Trusted Access for Cyber programme.



Microsoft, in turn, will apply its cybersecurity infrastructure and expertise including its Secure Future Initiative, to help protect OpenAI’s systems, models and shared customers.

The companies did not disclose financial terms or a timeline for the deal.

Introduced in February this year, OpenAI’s pilot “Trusted Access for Cyber,” is an identity-based framework designed to ensure that its most powerful cybersecurity capabilities are primarily deployed by vetted users.

OpenAI spent $10 million in API credits through its Cybersecurity Grant Programme to accelerate adoption among security teams, particularly those focused on identifying and fixing vulnerabilities, per a company blog post.

Cybersecurity in focus

The announcement comes as a response to rapid advances in AI. “AI models are becoming much more capable in cybersecurity, and that progress raises the bar for everyone,” OpenAI said.

The development follows rising cybersecurity issues due to Anthropic’s Mythos model, which Microsoft itself plans to embed into its secure coding framework, as the company steps up its cybersecurity capabilities.

Microsoft recently evaluated Mythos, using its own open-source benchmark for real-world ⁠detection engineering tasks, and the "results showed substantial improvements relative to prior models."

OpenAI’s push for cyber defense

OpenAI, meanwhile, unveiled GPT-5.4-Cyber earlier this month, which is a variant of its latest flagship ⁠model fine-tuned ‌specifically for defensive cybersecurity work.

The ChatGPT-maker has been resilient in building cyber defense capabilities. OpenAI said its cybersecurity strategy centers on three principles: expanding access to legitimate defenders, deploying systems iteratively, and investing in ecosystem resilience.

It also held ⁠an event in Washington for about 50 cyber defense practitioners across the federal government to demo the capabilities of its new GPT-5.4-Cyber model.

The Sam Altman-led company has been ramping up efforts since December last year, saying it is "investing in strengthening models for defensive cybersecurity tasks".

In a blog post published earlier this month, OpenAI said it has supported defenders since 2023 through its Cybersecurity Grant Programme and has expanded tooling such as Codex Security, which automatically scans codebases, validates vulnerabilities and proposes fixes.

According to the company, the system has contributed to fixing more than 3,000 critical and high-severity vulnerabilities since its recent rollout.

The firm also said it has reached more than 1,000 open-source projects with free security scanning tools.