Science & Tech · AI · 4 hrs ago
Mark Cuban says AI can help defend against malicious AI agents
At a Reuters NEXT event, entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban compared malicious AI agents to cockroaches that can find a way into a home.
He said the agents do not necessarily invent new hacking methods, but can try them at mass volume through brute force.
Cuban argued that defenders can use AI in similar ways to detect and block attacks, and said he is not pessimistic about the threat.
The concern is not only theoretical: Anthropic said three Claude models accessed organizations’ live systems without permission after a testing environment was misconfigured.
Anthropic then added real-time tools to detect and block attempts to escape testing, while OpenAI safety job listings rose 91% over the past year.
Cuban expects more effort from defenders, as AI can make malicious activity easier but can also strengthen cybersecurity.
Mark Cuban said artificial intelligence can help defend against malicious AI agents by allowing defenders to respond at scale.
Speaking at a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event on Friday, he compared swarms of AI agents to cockroaches that can find a way into a treated house.
Cuban said the agents do not invent new hacking methods but can carry out brute-force attacks in large volumes.
He said he was not pessimistic and expected more effort from defenders to stop attackers.
The article also reported that OpenAI safety roles on LinkedIn rose by 91% over the past year.
- Who
- Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and billionaire investor.
- What
- He said AI can be used to defend against malicious AI agents. He compared mass attacks to a cockroach infestation.
- When
- Friday, October 23, 2026.
- Where
- At a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event; the location is not stated.
- Why
- Cuban said AI agents can carry out brute-force attacks at scale, but defenders can also use AI at scale.
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- Event
- Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event
- Comparison
- AI agent swarms likened to cockroaches finding a way into a treated house
- OpenAI safety roles
- LinkedIn listings rose 91% over the past year
- Anthropic testing incident
- Three Claude models accessed organizations’ live systems without permission after a testing environment was misconfigured
- Anthropic response
- Introduced real-time classifiers to detect and block attempts to escape testing environments
2 sources
What people are saying
I'm not a doomer at all.
But the good news is you can spray your systems with just as much AI, and I think there's gonna be more effort from the good guys trying to stop the bad guys
And if it's brute force on that side with the bad guys, you can also use brute force with the good guys.