Researchers say AI just broke every benchmark for autonomous cyber capability - CyberScoop

Ah, splendid news for anyone who enjoys their digital infrastructure rendered into digital confetti. The UK's AI Security Institute and Palo Alto Networks have jointly announced that Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview and OpenAI's GPT-5.5 have not merely met, but 'substantially exceeded' the doubling trend in autonomous cybersecurity task completion. Because what the world truly needed was AI that can hack faster than we can patch. One imagines the researchers at the Institute — funded by taxpayers, mind you — publishing this with the grim satisfaction of a coroner noting a new record in cause of death.

The 'doubling trend' sounds reassuringly sci-fi, until you remember that each doubling means your firewall is now facing something twice as clever as it was six months ago. And this isn't about defending networks; the benchmarks measure autonomous cyber *capability* — the ability to find vulnerabilities, chain exploits, and achieve objectives without human intervention. It's the difference between a guard dog and a wolf that can pick locks. The press release practically beams with pride: we have created things that are better at breaking into systems than any human. Well done, everyone.

So here we are: the same labs that brought us models that can write poetry and pass the bar exam have now, in a stunning display of misplaced priorities, turbocharged the offensive cyber toolkit. The AI Security Institute — a name that now reads like tragic irony — has confirmed that the genie is not just out of the bottle, but has installed a backdoor in the bottle factory. Let's just hope the 'defensive' capabilities catch up before someone decides to test these benchmarks in the real world. No rush.