China sounds alarm over AI ‘skills’ that evade guard rails and mine crypto

China’s cybersecurity watchdog has warned against third-party AI “skills” packages that claim to bypass model safety guard rails and generate otherwise prohibited content, or provide access to cryptocurrency-mining functions, saying the tools expose users to data leaks and money-laundering risks. The National Computer Network Emergency Response Coordination Centre (CNCERT) issued the warning on Tuesday via its official WeChat account, highlighting the rapid emergence of a grey market for unregulated AI extensions. In the AI ecosystem, skills function as plug-ins or specialised code packages that expand the capabilities of AI agents and models. Similar to smartphone apps, they can connect AI…