White House leverages AI to counter cyberthreats from adversaries

The White House aims to head off cyberrisks to critical infrastructure by employing AI to detect and fix vulnerabilities faster than adversaries can exploit them.

The administration announced the cybersecurity clearinghouse initiative, called Gold Eagle, on July 14, leveraging frontier AI capabilities such as Anthropic's Mythos to "deliver prioritized and actionable threat and remediation information to defenders across the federal government and the private sector," according to a news release.

The action came as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the National Security Agency, the FBI and other agencies, warned on July 14 that Russian cyberthreat actors are targeting vulnerable networking devices across major sectors including communications, energy and financial services.

In April, CISA warned utilities and other critical infrastructure operators that Iranian affiliates could attempt to exploit their operational control technologies.

The Trump administration reached out to the utility industry earlier this year when Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI developers appeared to be on the verge of releasing AI models that could help to defend critical infrastructure but posed a threat in the hands of bad actors, a senior industry official said.

Officials encouraged utility executives and AI developers to "have a conversation about what this means for the energy sector," said Michael Coe, vice president for security, resilience and energy solutions for the nonprofit American Public Power Association (APPA), said in a July 16 interview with Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.

"With the advent of these AI frontier models and what they're able to do more rapidly than with good ole hackers, we also need to spin up the responses, the patches, the mitigation just as quickly," Coe added.

He said if the industry is prepared to use these AI applications to defend critical infrastructure, the industry and the federal government must also be "prepared to be able to come up with the solutions and answers to those vulnerabilities and execute them ... in the same time frame."

AI developer Anthropic staggered the release of its advanced AI model, the Mythos platform, due to cybersecurity concerns and issues raised by the Trump administration in recent weeks, limiting its use to certain groups.

At the same time, OpenAI — a principal competitor to Anthropic — has stepped up its AI offering with the Sol AI model.

Shield vs. sword

"AI is both a shield and a sword, and we have to be able to use it as such," Coe said. Since the nation's adversaries can use these new capabilities like a sword, the industry should use the models as a shield, he said.

The White House said Gold Eagle is intended to act as a "force multiplier," enabling the federal government and industry to work together to identify risks, prioritize actions and strengthen the resilience of systems that support the economy and daily life.

The initiative was part of a June 2 executive order that established a centralized channel for critical infrastructure operators to communicate with the federal government and frontier AI companies to patch vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

The order also called on federal agencies to facilitate access to AI-enabled cybersecurity tools and services for critical infrastructure, including rural hospitals, community banks and local utilities.

Public utility initiative

APPA, which represents local utilities, launched its Cybersecurity Accelerator Program (CAP) to help public power utilities assess and improve their cybersecurity programs.

"This includes assessing both information technology and operational technology cybersecurity posture as well as the policies and practices that support electric system and grid security," APPA said in a news release. The initiative is funded by the Department of Energy.

The initial period for utilities to apply for evaluation ended June 30, but Coe said the deadline has been extended through July so more companies can participate.

"With each year, the importance of cybersecurity continues to grow in the minds of our members," he said. "I think if you ask folks 10, maybe five years ago, the importance ... [of] cybersecurity wouldn't be as high as it is today."

Utilities can earn a designation of diamond, platinum or gold through the CAP evaluations. Coe will announce the designations at the group's forthcoming cybersecurity summit in San Antonio in September.

Attendance at the APPA's annual cyber conference increased 20% in 2025, Coe said.

"The advent of AI is making many nervous given what we've seen with some of these models enabling bad actors to wage attacks on systems in weeks and days, rather than months and years," Coe said.