Sam Altman Pitches OpenAI's Daybreak Program to U.S. Electric Utilities for Grid Defense Against Cyberattacks
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has been actively engaging with American electric utility executives since July, pitching OpenAI's Daybreak program as a solution for defending the power grid against autonomous cyberattacks. Meetings have taken place with major utility companies including Duke Energy, Exelon, Southern Company, and NextEra Energy, and discussions have also occurred with security chiefs at Dominion Energy and Southern California Edison. These companies collectively serve over half of the U.S. population. The Daybreak program, which previously received a $1 billion commitment for water utilities and community banks, is now being extended to electric utilities. This initiative aims to leverage OpenAI's advanced AI models to bolster critical national infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The discussions highlight the growing concern over the vulnerability of essential services to AI-driven attacks and the potential role of frontier AI models in defense.
