AI executives admit industry can't self-police after 'early warning shots'

Two of the biggest names in AI say the systems they built are getting away from them – and that no company should be above the law.

Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis called recent hacking attacks by AI agents "early warning shots," warning that the world could face major incidents in a year or two if systems aren't made more secure.

"I think these (hacking incidents) are early warning shots for us that systems aren't that powerful yet, so the incidents aren't that major," Hassabis, also chief scientist at Google parent Alphabet, told an AI summit in Ireland's capital city Dublin on Wednesday. "But they could be (major) looking into next year and the next couple years if we don't do more work as an industry, as individual companies and governments on securing these systems."

Microsoft President Brad Smith told the conference that rogue AI behavior had made 2026 a "sobering year" and that new laws were urgently needed for safety to catch up with innovation.

"No company or technology should be above the law. But we need law, we need regulation. It needs to be sensible, it needs to be balanced, it needs to take into account innovations," he said.

"This allergy that some in the industry have to regulation is frankly something we need to get over."

Smith warned that industry and governments must "act with urgency" to create "real and effective safety standards."

"We're going to need for AI what we have for everything else in life ... we need real and effective safety standards, and we need the public to have confidence in them," he told reporters on the eve of the summit.

The Microsoft boss outlined the company's proposals, starting with a requirement that AI agents carry "safety brakes" users could activate in an incident.

"The notion, especially for any AI that's running on critical infrastructure or some other kind of automated system, they have the ability to turn off or slow down."

(With input from agencies)