At first, the X headlines this morning about the latest AI-powered cybersecurity incident seemed dire. But by the time I had a cup of coffee and began parsing all the cyber jargon, I was reassured that an apparent solution was on its way to plug a major new security hole that could make websites vulnerable to cyberintrusions. Since August, a coalition led by OpenAI has been working to address critical vulnerabilities in PHP, an open-source programming language that undergirds the web. But there was bad news, too: This type of long-simmering response to the latest AI-discovered vulnerabilities may not be viable for much longer. For months, OpenAI has been harping on what it calls the “defender’s window”—the critical period of time when cybersecurity experts, armed with advanced AI models, can identify and patch vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them first. The issue is that the gap is rapidly narrowing between cybercapable models from leading U.S. frontier labs and Chinese open-source models, which lack the restrictions U.S. labs impose on their models’ capabilities. Anthropic said as much in a blog post from late September warning that Chinese lab Z.ai’s GLM-5.3 model only lags the U.S. frontier models by about four months. The good news: The Trump administration has a shiny new organization created for moments just like these. It’s called the Super Intelligence Force, a name that may elicit eyerolls from some of our more jaded readers. Still, I have heard over and over that all the AI industry wants is coordination and clarity from the White House. That, presumably, is what the SI Force will offer, led by heavy hitters including National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and senior Defense Department official Emil Michael.
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At first, the X headlines this morning about the latest AI-powered cybersecurity incident seemed dire. But by the time I had a cup of coffee and began parsing all the cyber jargon, I was reassured that an apparent solution was on its way to plug a major new security hole that could make websites vulnerable to cyberintrusions. Since August, a coalition led by OpenAI has been working to address critical vulnerabilities in PHP, an open-source programming language that undergirds the web. But there was bad news, too: This type of long-simmering response to the latest AI-discovered vulnerabilities may not be viable for much longer.
For months, OpenAI has been harping on what it calls the “defender’s window”—the critical period of time when cybersecurity experts, armed with advanced AI models, can identify and patch vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them first. The issue is that the gap is rapidly narrowing between cybercapable models from leading U.S. frontier labs and Chinese open-source models, which lack the restrictions U.S. labs impose on their models’ capabilities. Anthropic said as much in a blog post from late September warning that Chinese lab Z.ai’s GLM-5.3 model only lags the U.S. frontier models by about four months.
The good news: The Trump administration has a shiny new organization created for moments just like these. It’s called the Super Intelligence Force, a name that may elicit eyerolls from some of our more jaded readers. Still, I have heard over and over that all the AI industry wants is coordination and clarity from the White House. That, presumably, is what the SI Force will offer, led by heavy hitters including National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton and senior Defense Department official Emil Michael.
An OpenAI spokesperson told me today that they had briefed several agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, about the PHP vulnerability, as well as briefing Clayton and Michael late last week, representing the first “major engagement” between OpenAI and the SI Force. The spokesperson added that the SI Force provided a central point to coordinate their communication across the broader government. According to a White House official, the SI Force’s work involved helping to put pressure on the “relevant parties” to deploy a vulnerability patch.
While the SI Force’s coordination function may not seem terribly ambitious, at least it’s a start. It’s worth remembering that the White House essentially had to reorient its entire AI policy in April with the announcement of Mythos. The arrival of Chinese cybercapable open models could represent a Mythos 2.0 moment. I spoke with one former White House official who told me solutions from even a few months ago, like the July Gold Eagle clearinghouse that allows organizations and government agencies to share and fix software vulnerabilities, might already be outdated. It’s up to the SI Force to create a path forward. The next major internet bug likely won’t have the luxury of a two-month-long defender’s window.
Meta’s Performance
On Sunday, in a preview of this week’s Meta Platforms earnings report, your regular Briefing columnist, Martin Peers, declared: “If Meta can stay on investors’ good sides, an equity offering seems in the cards.” Martin nailed it on both accounts. On Wednesday afternoon, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered a bunch of (mostly) good news that had investors in the company purring like kittens. Meta also announced the creation of a new category of common stock that will allow it to raise capital to fund its hefty AI investments without sacrificing Zuckerberg’s control.
The highlights: For the third quarter, its revenue grew 26% to $64.6 billion, slightly above what the company had forecast. It’s trimming the losses from its Reality Labs unit. While it showed negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion rather than the positive free cash flow of $10.63 billion in the year-earlier period, that was due to its AI investments, and the number wasn’t as bad as some analysts had expected. The company’s anticipated capital expenditures of $135 billion to $145 billion for the full year, while eye-popping, were still within the range it had previously forecast. That was reassuring for investors who’ve gotten spooked in the past by sudden leaps in tech company spending on AI.
Perhaps equally comforting were Zuckerberg’s reassurances that investors will see a payoff from some of its most expensive AI initiatives. He described Muse, Meta’s new agent app, as a bona fide hit for the company, one that has gained 10 million users in the U.S. and Canada in its first six weeks on the market—a faster pace of growth than for its Threads app. While Zuckerberg said the product will remain free for most people, he described a number of ways Meta plans to eventually get paid for it, including commerce transaction fees paid by businesses and money power users will pay for access to advanced models and extra tokens. Meta shares rose 2% in after-hours trading.
Meta also warned of some potentially expensive new legal costs on the horizon, including from lawsuits related to child safety legal cases. During the third quarter, Meta said, its operating income declined 37% from a year earlier to just under $13 billion, due in large part to a nearly $10 billion charge related to legal proceedings. In August, the company settled a child online safety case with 52 attorneys general for $18.59 billion. And on Wednesday, a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion in a case related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Meta did not say when it plans to raise capital through a new equity offering, or how much it might raise. Presumably, that will happen after Jan. 19, the effective date for issuance of the new nonvoting Class C common stock the company announced today. The company’s existing shareholders will receive a dividend of one Class C share for each share of Class A or B common stock they hold. And crucially, when the company raises money in the future with its Class C stock, that won’t dilute Zuckerberg’s voting power. “The creation of the Class C common stock will continue the founder-led model that has driven the company’s success since its inception,” Meta said.—Nick Wingfield
Tongue-Tied at Tesla
On Tesla’s earnings call, Elon Musk had much less to say on the topic of a potential merger of the EV maker with his other company, SpaceX, than he did Tuesday afternoon on SpaceX’s earnings call. He told investors he had said everything he wanted to on the topic for now. Tesla’s automotive revenues fell 3% to $20.56 billion while its total revenues remained flat at $28 billion compared to a year earlier. Tesla shares fell 3% in after-hours trading.—Nick Wingfield
In Other News
Electronic Arts plans to shed around 400 jobs, or about 3% of its staff, and shut down its BioWare studio, Bloomberg reported.
Microsoft asked shareholders to approve a plan to lower CEO Satya Nadella’s pay by 6% due to falling revenue in its Xbox unit. The company also nominated Stripe co-founder John Collison to its board.
Google will stop requiring local government officials to sign nondisclosure agreements when it plans to build data centers in their areas.
Today on The Information’s TITV
Check out today’s episode of TITV in which Akash Pasricha speaks with analyst Tim Farrar about SpaceX’s quarterly results.
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