OpenAI joins forces with security researchers to strengthen its digital defenses

OpenAI is bringing outside security researchers into its next internal security sprint, giving them access to its models to help find weaknesses in its defenses. The company is partnering with Cathedral Systems, whose researchers will work alongside OpenAI’s teams to test its systems and help strengthen protections across its platforms. The planned exercise builds on an earlier sprint that involved 25 percent of OpenAI’s product engineers. Alongside the partnership, the company is increasing its Security Bug Bounty rewards, with exceptional findings eligible for up to $172,000, including bonuses. OpenAI has not specified when the next sprint will begin. It framed the effort as part of a broader push to use AI continuously to identify and fix vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. Outside researchers join defense testing Cathedral’s researchers will use OpenAI’s models alongside the company’s own security teams to challenge its defenses. OpenAI said the partnership would bring different expertise and approaches to identifying weaknesses. The collaboration will also involve testing fixes, according to Gavin Kliger, Cathedral’s CEO and co-founder. “OpenAI is setting an important example by partnering with outside security firms and using its own models to continuously test and strengthen its defenses. Every company should be thinking about how to put these capabilities to work,” Kliger said. “We’re excited to collaborate with OpenAI’s teams, combining their models and security expertise with our research to find weaknesses, test fixes, and strengthen this approach to continuous defense,” he added. The announcement describes a planned collaboration rather than completed findings. It does not identify specific vulnerabilities discovered through the new partnership or detail the systems researchers will examine. Higher rewards for critical findings OpenAI is also more than quadrupling rewards for critical findings under its Security Bug Bounty program. The maximum payment of $172,000, including bonuses, applies to exceptional findings. The company said it wants researchers to challenge its assumptions and strengthen both its systems and the methods used to defend them. During the previous internal sprint, engineers used Codex to investigate findings, reproduce vulnerabilities in isolated environments, and prepare patches for review. OpenAI dedicated a quarter of its product engineers to that effort. The next sprint is intended to build on this work by bringing new researchers and security partners together with internal teams. OpenAI said traditional cyber defenses alone are no longer sufficient, pointing to recent industry incidents as evidence of how quickly threats can emerge. Its stated goal is to build continuous defensive loops that find and fix weaknesses before attackers do. Beyond its internal systems, the company is making its most capable models available to Daybreak customers. It has committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure. OpenAI is also sharing its architecture and lessons from its previous sprint, along with a blueprint for empowering cyber defenders across industry and government. The company said it would keep advancing its models, applying them to its own defenses and expanding access for trusted defenders as AI becomes better at finding vulnerabilities.Get the latest in engineering, tech, space & science - delivered daily to your inbox.Atharva is a full-time content writer with a post-graduate degree in media & amp; entertainment and a graduate degree in electronics & telecommunications. He has written in the sports and technology domains respectively. In his leisure time, Atharva loves learning about digital marketing and watching soccer matches. His main goal behind joining Interesting Engineering is to learn more about how the recent technological advancements are helping human beings on both societal and individual levels in their daily lives.